Race Of His Life (editted)
by WinterFury10
Summary: "You, mister, are gonna be punished for the destruction you've caused," she said. "Pfft, like I even care." He rolled his eyes. At this, she raised an eyebrow before replying smugly, "You will. Because you won't be returning home until you fix the mess you've made. And you are gonna stay and work here as a prisoner for at least six weeks." -Jelsa Fanfic inspired by Cars 1
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there my dear Jelsa fangirls!**

 **To those who have just opened this story, welcome to my fanfiction! I hope you all like it!**

 **To those who've already read this fanfic and have come for the update, thank you for continuing to read it! Yes, this is an edited version but not many changes have been made. You can continue reading the story as it is! Please to visit the Author's Note in Chapter 14 to know about the changes made, in case you didn't want to read all the 13 chapters!**

 _..._

 _"And the Light Cup goes to Jack Frost!"_ The announcer yelled, his voice somewhat distant as fans went nuts and screamed their heads off. A man, wearing black from head to toe, walked up the stage, shook hands with the Chief Guest before he received his award, his key to the final race.

He walked ahead and shook hands with the two announcers and even kissed the hand of the female announcer, who swooned at his touch. He winked at the cameras and ran a hand through his silver-white hair which sent the paparazzi crazy. He accepted the mic from the announcers and turned to the crowd.

"What's up America?!" Jack Frost yelled into the mic, which had the whole audience screaming. "Sweet!" He gave a wide grin before starting his speech. He thanked his trainers, his family, and his company president for giving him an opportunity to race, blah blah, all the stuff that was expected of him to tell. He finished his speech with a smirk and a wink, kissing his cup for all the photos to be taken.

The Light Cup was the award given to the winner of the semifinals of the legendary Race of Rapidity, a race to determine the best person with speed, agility, and quick wit to get them out of trouble. To Jack, earning the Light Cup was nothing since his eyes were on the main thing: The Tachyons Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the Race of Rapidity in the finals.

Once at least a hundred pictures were taken, he stepped down from the stage, hearing the speaker announce the runner-up for the Light Cup, Hiccup Haddock, who would also be entering the finals.

After a while of talking with the managers of the other companies and flirting with some beautiful ladies, Jack walked around with his Cup in his hand. He spotted Hiccup sitting with his dragon Toothless, riding whom Hiccup competes in the races. And sitting with them was the beautiful Astrid Haddock, ex-racer who recently got married to the auburn-haired racer. The two shared a loving smile before Hiccup saw Jack. He waved at him in a friendly manner, but Jack ignored them and just walked away. He noticed his own company standing a few meters ahead and walked over to them.

"Well done Jack!" said North, CEO of the Guardians Inc., which was the company sponsoring Jack with all his races.

"Yeah, the race was awesome!" Toothiana, North's secretary, gushed before she slapped him on his back. Next to her, Sandy, one of Jack's managers, gave him a thumbs up to show his support.

"Yeah, get going already. You're gonna miss your interviews." Bunny, Jack's other manager, muttered as he guided Jack to his tour bus.

Jack got on, without bothering to thank them, and shut his door before blasting his heavy-metal music.

"He's not gonna change, is he?" Tooth sighed, turning to her coworkers and friends.

"Don't think so. Emma is the only one who could make him smile. But nowadays he avoids even her." North muttered.

"Okay, fine, let's stop talking about all of this and get going already. Get back to your cars. His bus will be leaving soon." He chased them all away before secretly turning to Jamie, Jack's driver. "Take care of him" Bunny whispered to Jamie, who grinned and nodded.

Having heard their conversation even through the loud music, Jack sighed, falling backward and landing on his bed. He looked around his room in the bus, seeing posters of the race and of himself; his clothes neatly folded and placed in a wardrobe in the corner, a door leading to the washroom and some other things he would need for the trip.

In reality, Jack never wanted any of this. All he cared about was to win the Tachyons Cup of the Race of Rapidity, the most honorable game of the century for those gifted with supernatural abilities. In a world where powers like invisibility and levitation were common among the people, those with elemental powers were considered special and those whose powers were controlled by their emotions, as well as themselves, were considered the rarest and the best, or in some cases the worst.

And Jack came under the last category. To top it off, he could control the wind and sometimes even water if it was _really_ cold. But that drains him of energy at an alarming speed and he would have to concentrate _very_ hard so Jack never bothered.

Jack snapped from his thoughts when he heard his phone ringing, and bit his lip when he saw that it was his eight-year-old little sister. He reduced the volume of his speakers and answered the call.

" _Hey Jack, um, this is Emma here. I saw the race on TV. Congrats on winning it.."_

Hearing her hesitant voice, which used to be cheery almost all the time, Jack's throat clenched and his heart tightened, but he forced an answer out.

"Yeah, thanks."

 _"So...where are you right now? Are you- are you coming home?"_

Ignoring the hidden plea that clearly told she missed him, Jack bit his lip before replying, trying his best to sound as emotionless as possible.

"I'm, uh, going to California- for my next race. It's in two months or so and I need to be there for my interviews, practices and such. So..."

 _"Oh... Okay. I get it. I'll- I'll see you sometime, then. All the best for your next race...Bye."_ And the crack in her voice was enough to tell that she was trying not to cry and that she's probably crying right now after ending the call. Jack stared at the picture he had saved for her contact. Jack bit his lip again, missing the bright smile on her face which he had not seen for over a year or so.

 _Soon, it'll be over... Soon, I'll win the race and go back home to her..._

After telling that to himself, Jack switched his phone off before turning around and starting to snooze.

...

A loud bang from outside jolted Jack awake from his slumber. Grunting in annoyance, he looked out of the window and his sleepy eyes widened when he caught sight of black creatures, looking like horses, which were made of black sand and had bright yellow eyes. These creatures were circling his bus, a look of hunger in their eyes.

Jack whipped around when his door opened, revealing a panicked Jamie who quickly grabbed a bag and started stuffing Jack's items in it.

"The heck is going on here-?"

"No time to explain. These creatures are here for you, Jack! You need to get out of here while I steer them away!" Jamie yelled, stuffing a few fruits in the bag.

"What? But we're in the middle of a damned _forest!_ " Jack asked, taken aback.

"Which is where they'll find it difficult to find you! North called up and told me to send you away and make sure the horses don't spot you. So get going!" Jamie informed, pushing the bag in Jack's hands before peeping out. "Look, I'm gonna go to the front and make sure each and every horse comes to me whereas you jump out of the window and escape!"

"I can just fight them off!" Jack argued.

"These things _can't_ be fought off! Especially not in the night! Now _go!_ " And Jamie ran to the front. Jack stared at him, still uncertain but then he grabbed the window and yanked it open once all the horses ran to the front. Using his steel-black staff, he got down thanks to his wind powers and flew right into the forest without looking back.

 _What the hell..._


	2. Chapter 2

_God, please let Jamie be alright..._

 _This is my fault... those horses were after me... I should've stayed...!_

Jack ignored his conscious and trudged on, his bag slumped on one shoulder while his staff rested against the other. He had long since given up flying, as the trees and branches kept coming in the way. But flying over the trees ould probably get him spotted so that was a no go.

He kept walking with no aim, munching on an apple which he found in the bag. He had been surprised when he had found some food and a water bottle in his bag, remembering how Jamie had thrown only his clothes and some other things which he would need, but then he realised that North must have had this arranged just in case anything happened on the way.

And knowing that he was getting nowhere, Jack had given up all hope that he would find any human habitat. He had already started thinking about what he would do later on.

Probably find a suitable branch and fall to his death.

But of course, he was just exaggerating.

 _Nah, can't do that... Then I can't win the Tachyons cup... And Emma..._

Keeping that as his only reason to get out alive, he trudged on and finally, after hours of walking, Jack saw some light ahead. The corners of his lips lifted in a grin before he picked up his speed and ran ahead. And before he knew, he had started flying towards the source of the light, unaware of the strong winds he had caused behind him in his haste to get there.

His powers, which were based on his emotions, made the winds intense as too much relief and happiness washed over him. All of a sudden, his powers unknowingly started something like a mini-tornado behind him and Jack, not aware of it following him, just blindly flew towards the light.

He stopped when he saw that it was not a city, as he had hoped, but was rather an empty Ice Skating Rink, with shops all around it. Jack, flew over to the middle of the rink, looking around in confusion and _still_ not aware of the god-damned storm he had caused. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw a road right next to the rink, going through the forest. But then he grew even more confused when he heard some rustling sounds behind him.

He turned and saw that the winds he had caused had formed a mini-tornado thingy, small yet strong, and was heading right towards him. Looking around and not knowing what to do, Jack shot up into the air, and could only see the forest everywhere. He would have flown even higher to catch a glimpse of some city or something but after running for an hour, he was left exhausted and tired, and he had already eaten all the food in his bag. So, sighing in defeat, he came down a bit and tried gaining control of the tornado thing. But instead of vanishing it or at least guiding it away, he accidentally made it bigger. The winds became even stronger and started lifting up several objects. And one of them was a huge, _huge_ stone. The thing came flying and was right in the middle of the rink already.

Jack tried his best to make the winds weaker and smaller and finally, after trying a lot, the tornado became smaller and was almost vanishing, when the stone fell hard on the ice, creating a loud noise and breaking the whole rink. Jack's eyes widened when he saw the lights get switched on in the shops, and doors started opening. He looked around wildly and found his bag fallen in front of one of the shops. He quickly flew towards it, grabbed it and was just _about_ to fly away, when the door opened in front of him.

Jack gulped as he looked up, and met with wide and sleepy green eyes. The girl just stared at him for a moment, before she screamed, brought something from behind her back, and before he knew it, Jack's world turned black.

...

 _"Hey man, wake up! !"_

Jack's eyebrows furrowed. He slowly ad painfully opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but immediately regretted the attempt when his head started throbbing as if a hundred elephants had trampled all across his head.

"Here, this helps with the pain." He heard a male voice, the same one which had irritated him to wake up. Jack looked up and saw a man with brown hair, light brown eyes and a goatee, grinning at him and holding out a tablet and a glass of water to him. Jack just raised an eyebrow but did not move to take it.

"No thanks," he muttered.

"Well, okay then. I have no problem if you die of an aching head." The guy with the goatee retorted sarcastically. Jack rolled his eyes before taking the tablets, not even thanking him.

"Who the hell are you? And where on Earth am I?" Jack asked.

"I'm Flynn Rider. And you, my friend, are in our store basement." Guy-with-goatee, called Flynn, said.

"Wow, what an amazing explanation. And why, might I ask, is my head hurting so badly?" Jack groaned.

"That would be thanks to my wife. She gets panicked very easily. And what the hell do you expect her to do when a stranger is just sitting in front of the door, right after some sorta explosion noise? Her reaction was instant, she took her Frying Pan and hit you on the head with it." Flynn shrugged.

"A Frying pan?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Her weapon. It really does come in handy in times of trouble. And I hope you have your own weapon 'cause you are in serious trouble dude." Flynn explained.

"Trouble? Me? What the hell did I do? And where are my other things?" Jack hissed, noticing that his bag and his staff were not here.

"Well, let's see. Uprooted many trees, broke all the windows of the shops thanks to the storm you caused, broke our ice rink and scared my precious wife, Rapunzel. Oh, and your items are safe with Punzie." Flynn said.

"Punzie, your wife?" Jack asked.

"Yeah-"

 _"Hey Rider, is he up?"_ Another male voice from the other side of the door interrupted their conversation.

"Yup!" Flynn replied.

" _Okay then. I'll let the others know. You know where to bring him."_ The voice said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Kristoff," Flynn said, rolling his eyes before turning to Jack.

"C'mon mister rink-crasher. We've got a meeting to attend." Flynn said, pulling Jack to his feet.

"Meeting? Wha-"

"Just shut up and come." Flynn rolled his eyes before dragging the poor racer up the stairs and out of the building. Jack watched as he was dragged into another building, which happened to be the biggest around there.

The two went to the basement and Flynn gestured him to walk through a set of huge double doors. Jack raised an eyebrow but did as he was told to do. His eyes widened when he saw a bunch of people sitting on benches on either side of the hall, a table placed in the very front on a slightly raised platform, and all the people were staring directly at him. He recognised the woman with the blonde hair and green eyes from the previous night, sitting in the front next to another woman who looked about the same age as her, with strawberry blonde hair and bright turquoise eyes. There were at least five other people in the room, which made Jack nervous.

 _Did I end up getting kidnapped by an isolated family or something?_

Flynn asked Jack sit on the chair placed in front of the raised platform. Warily, Jack did so and before he knew it, he was handcuffed to the chair.

"What the-"

"I wouldn't open my mouth if I were you, buddy," Said a blonde guy said, and Jack recognised his voice as the person who told Flynn to bring him down.

"What the hell is happening here?" Jack hissed.

"Well, you're held captive." Flynn shrugged.

"I can see that, I'm not blind. But why?" Jack asked.

"I think you already know the answer to that," A female voice interrupted their conversation. Flynn and Kristoff quickly got back to their seats when a tall woman, seemingly older than the other two women, with beautiful platinum blonde hair in a sophisticated bun and wearing a dark blue skirt, a dark blue blouse and a black cardigan walked in, some paper in her hands, a frown on her beautiful face and blue eyes serious and cold.

 _Wow, she's gorgeous... Maybe I should just flirt with her? That's what the other trainees told would work if I ever got in trouble with a woman..._

Making up his mind, Jack quickly plastered a smirk on his face, which usually had all the fans screaming.

"Well, hello there," He said with a wink.

The woman merely raised an eyebrow before she gracefully sat on the chair behind the table on the platform, glaring down at him.

"What is your name, mister?" She asked in a cold voice.

"A wee bit harsh, are we?" He grinned. But then he blinked and his eyes widened when he saw a really _really_ sharp icicle right in front of his eyes, which made him gulp.

"Just _answer_ the damned _question._ " The woman hissed.

 _Well, she isn't gonna be swayed by your charms_ a voice yelled in his head. Jack's expression returned to his previous unamused and irritated one accompanied by a scowl on his face.

"Jack," he said.

"Full name," the lady hissed. Jack's scowl deepened and he was starting to hate this woman already.

"Jack Frost," he said more clearly.

"So, Jack Frost, I believe you know why you've been captured?" The woman asked.

"Geez, of course, I do. Your men gave me _plenty_ of information about why I'm here." He rolled his eyes.

"Not the sharpest sword in the armory, I see." The woman rolled her eyes, pulling the icicle away. "You've been held captive for destroying our ice rink, which is our main source of income, broke the windows of all the shops, and thanks to you, many trees aren't alive anymore and one of us had a panic attack because of your sudden appearance," She said, rolling her eyes -again- at the end.

"So?" he asked.

" _'So?'_ You, mister, are gonna be punished for the destruction you've caused," she said.

"Pfft, like I even care." He rolled his eyes.

"You will. 'Cause you won't be returning home until you finish your punishment," She smirked. Jack, though feeling all kinds of hatred for her, couldn't help but think she looked ravishing, even in those boring clothes she wore.

"What? And what exactly is my 'punishment'?" he asked, making quotation marks with his fingers.

The woman's expression became more evil and cunning, "You're gonna fix the mess you've made, that's all. And you are gonna stay and work here as a prisoner for at least six weeks!"


	3. Chapter 3

"This- Is- Not- FAIR!" Jack huffed, sweat dripping down his forehead and neck as he swept all the broken glass shards. It had been a long time since he did any chores, but a sense of familiarity hit him as he did the work.

After that little incident at the 'meeting', Jack was taken to one of the rooms in the first building where he woke up, which he now realised was actually a hotel, and even his other items were returned. They had explained some rules he had to follow as the prisoner, and he had been threatened that if he tried to escape, he would be caught and be made to do extra work.

And after the instructions were given, he was led to the shop where he had been knocked out i.e. Flynn and his wife, Rapunzel's, bakery. He was told to fix what he had damaged, starting with cleaning the mess he had made.

And of course, along with hard work came all kinds of complaints and wails. He decided that if they're gonna force him to work then he might as well be the biggest pain in the ass. And he didn't even do the work properly. He would just hide some of the glass shards of the broken window either below the furniture or below mats and he would even just randomly throw them away outside the window.

 _If only those god-damned horses hadn't attacked, I would be in California by now, preparing for my final race!_

But then another thought struck Jack: what _were_ those things? They looked like horses, but they seemed to be made of sand, which kept spilling wherever they went. And they even had strands of sand flowing behind them.

 _Now that I think about it, it doesn't make a lot of sense. What were those things and why would they attack us? Jamie said they were after me, so what the heck did I do? They were not sent by these geezers, right?_

 _Nah, these people don't even know who I am for crying out loud! And look at what they're making me do!_

Jack sighed before collecting glass shards again and dumped them in the dustbin.

"Well, you've done only so much and you already look so done with life." A familiar voice teased him from the doorway of the bakery. Jack rolled his eyes and didn't even bother turning to see him.

"Haha hilarious," He said, picking up the last bits.

"But seriously dude, you suck at chores. When was the last time you did any?" Flynn asked.

"Let's see... About two years?" Jack replied.

"Well, you better get your game back on, 'cause you'll be doing more than just hiding the glass shards." Flynn pointed out.

"Woohoo, lucky me!" Jack rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Just then he heard laughter outside. He looked out of the window and spotted the green-eyed blonde woman, the strawberry-blonde turquoise-eyed woman, and the blonde guy, talking with an older couple.

"So, Flynn, care to introduce your family to me? I'm pretty sure all of them know me." Jack said, nearing the window. Flynn came and stood next to him.

"The Blondie with the long hair is my wife, Punzie, formerly known as Rapunzel Corona. Standing next to her is Anna Winters, Punzie's cousin, and next to her is Kristoff Bjorgman, Anna's boyfriend. And the older couple would be Punzie's parents, Frederic and Ariana Corona." Flynn explained.

"And those other people who were there at the meeting?" Jack asked. And just then a family of five, four redheaded and one brunette, arrived and joined the conversation.

"The redheaded family? The woman with the long, brown hair would be Elinor Dunbroch. Then her husband Fergus Dunbroch, the head of the family. And their first child, Merida Dunbroch, is the adventurous one and no one has beat her in an archery competition yet. And then the triplets, Harish, Hamish, and Hubert, who can't be said apart by anyone except Merida and Elinor, are the naughty and mischievous ones. Be careful around those guys. They would've pranked you and you wouldn't even know that you're their victim," Flynn warned.

"And what about _her?_ " Jack rolled his eyes as the last person, the one who had punished him, walked over to the gathering families and sat with them.

"Watch your tone, Frost. That's Elsa Winters, Anna's older sister. She's the temporary head of the place. The actual one has gone out somewhere. She treats everyone like family and she's serious almost all the time. You see her smile only when she's being polite or when she's around Anna and Punzie. I was actually surprised at the evil grin she gave you back at the meeting." Flynn said.

"Oh," Jack said, not impressed by the story.

"But I gotta admit, you've got some guts there. I mean, you don't even know her and you just straight up went on to flirt with her. And even when she threatened you, you were glaring right back at her," Flynn smirked.

"Seriously? Well-" and then Jack stopped, remembering something, "Wait, where did that icicle even come from?" He asked.

"Oh, that? This area isn't exactly safe so all of us have our own weapons. And that icicle would be Elsa's. She has it tucked in her sleeves, as she always wears full sleeves. It might look thin and small but is terrifyingly sharp that she could cut off your head without even using much energy." Flynn said casually.

"Weapons huh?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. All of us have our own."

"Wow, sounds like you guys are auditioning for the Avengers or something." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Well, enough about us. Tell me something about you," Flynn said, turning away from the window and leaning against the wall next to it. Jack held up his hands, backing up.

"Never one for back-stories. Not exactly the person who would trust anyone." He said.

"Well, at least what do you work as?" Flynn asked. Jack just stared at him blankly, before he started chuckling.

"After being in my career for two years now, you are probably the first who has asked that. Well, nonetheless, I am Jack Frost, one of the finalists for the Tachyons Cup," he said, and the pride and ego were clearly seen in his eyes.

"A Tachyons Cup finalist huh?" Flynn's expression became unamused and cold, which greatly surprised Jack. "Well, let's hope luck is on your side this time. And when is the race?" Flynn asked.

"Two months later. Aka just two weeks after this so-called punishment of mine ends." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Oh, wait, when was the last race?" Flynn asked.

"The night I landed up here" Jack replied.

"Isn't the stadium really far from here? What were you even doing around this area?"

"I was leaving for my flight to California on the same night my semifinals ended. And on the way-"

 _I can't let him know about the attack..._

"-uh, there were some problems and I ended up running through the forest and then come here when I saw some light after an hour of running."

"What kind of problems?" Flynn raised an eyebrow.

"Um," Jack hesitated, looking away from the brunette.

"Stop trying to pry him about his personal info Rider. It's not exactly cool." Kristoff's voice cut in, startling both the men.

"Dude, where the heck did you come from?" Flynn asked, glancing back and forth from Kris, standing in front of them, to where he was previously standing with Anna and the others.

"Let's see... How about the front door?" He commented dryly.

"Yeah yeah" Flynn rolled his eyes. Kristoff didn't say anything before he turned his attention to Jack.

"Hi, I'm Kristoff Bjorgman. Nice to meet you," Kristoff held out his hand.

"Yeah, Flynn told me. I'm Jack Frost," he replied, shaking the blonde's hand.

"So, you were running through the forest and ended up here huh?" Kristoff asked.

"Just how long were you eavesdropping on us?" Flynn's eyes narrowed.

"Long enough to know that he's a Tachyons cup finalist and was leaving but then got lost and came here instead," Kris shrugged.

"You eavesdropper-"

"So..." Jack cut Flynn off mid-sentence, "how did _you_ guys end up here? I mean, you are Punzie's husband and _you_ are just Anna's boyfriend, right? Assuming _they're_ the family owning the place, how come you guys live here? Did you grow up here or...?" Jack trailed off.

"Really long story, man. Don't have enough time right now. Let's just say that once we fell for the girls, we decided all of us will be happier if we moved in here, though we saw no problem in it." Kristoff shrugged.

"So you are telling me that you guys live here just for your loved one's sake?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with that?" Flynn asked, looking offended.

"Nothing, it's just that I feel romance is just a waste of time, that's all."

"Uh huh. Says the guy who flirted with a girl he didn't even know," Kristoff commented.

"Just because I flirt doesn't mean I like the girl or that means anything." Jack shrugged.

"So you're a player?" Kristoff raised an eyebrow.

"Nah, players are the dumb guys who play with girls' feelings while being in a relationship. I'm just the type of guy who would flirt with the gorgeous ones, get them interested in me and then let them down slow and nice. A little fun never hurt anyone." Jack smirked.

 _That's literally the worst lie I've ever told. Being that kinda person is just... gross and overrated._

"That's just a pathetic excuse for your behaviour, Frost," A familiar female voice interrupted them and Jack internally groaned when Elsa walked in, followed by her sister, cousin and the red-headed friend.

"You might wanna think before talking," Jack commented dryly.

"Ooh, Mr Frost is warning me, I'm so terrified" Elsa shot back sarcastically, which just made Jack angrier. "And look who's talking about thinking before talking," Elsa rolled her eyes before glaring at him, which was gladly returned by Jack whose glare matched her own.

"Okay..." Rapunzel trailed off awkwardly, stepping in between the two. "How about we cool things down here?" She suggested. Elsa rolled her eyes before she calmly walked to the storeroom of the shop.

"I'm Rapunzel Fitzherbert, Eugene's wife," said Rapunzel, offering her hand. Jack shook it, but his eyebrows dipped in confusion.

"Fitzherbert? Eugene? I thought you were Flynn's wife" said Jack, glancing back and forth from the blonde and the brunette.

"I am. Flynn Rider is just a name he kept for himself, his actual name is Eugene Fitzherbert." She grinned, rolling her eyes as she _knew_ he would introduce himself using his other name, something he does all the time. Flynn just groaned.

"Seriously? A fake name?" Jack snickered, deciding that these people weren't all that bad. But that didn't mean he trusted them completely.

"Hey, it's cool! And it's not fake! And don't tell me you've never used a different name yourself, Mr Popular," Flynn accused.

"Guilty as charged," Jack shrugged.

"See? I'm not the only one who uses different names!" Flynn accused.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and smacked his arm, which made him pout and rub it.

"Yeah, yeah, flirt once you get inside your bedroom." The strawberry blonde rolled her eyes before holding out her hand. "Hey, I am Anna Winters. A pleasure to meet you."

"Oh no, the pleasure's all mine" Jack smiled and winked playfully, shaking her hand.

"Don't you even _think_ of flirting with my sister Frost," Elsa threatened, now approaching them, holding a box in her hand. Anna quickly walked towards her sister, grabbed the box, opened it and popped a chocolate into her mouth.

"I wasn't, Ms Overprotective," Jack shot back.

She ignored him and turned to her sisters with a smile. "We got what we needed. Let's go" said Elsa, now pushing Punzie and Anna out of the shop before the three of them headed to Merida's house.

"You're gonna be staying here for six weeks Frost. You might as well get on her good side." Flynn commented.

"Which reminds me, I still have to talk to her about my so-called punishment. See ya," he said, hurrying out. He looked around and spotted the three women walking towards a building and ran towards them.

"Hey, wait up!" he yelled, running behind them. The three of them stopped and turned around, and Elsa quickly scowled when she saw Jack running towards them.

"How may I help you?" Elsa asked in an exhausted voice.

"I wanted to talk to you. Alone" Jack panted. But unknown to the two of them, Anna and Punzie's eyes widened.

"About what exactly?" Elsa asked.

"It's about my so-called punishment."

"I don't know what's there to talk about. I clearly told you-"

"It's really important," He cut her off.

Elsa's scowl deepened but she forced herself to nod. She turned her head to her sisters and her eyebrows dipped in confusion when she saw them having weird dreamy expressions.

"What are you girls staring at? Get going, I'll join you later." Elsa said.

The two women snapped from their trance and nodded, before walking away with wide grins plastered on their faces. But instead of going into the house, they just hid behind a nearby tree and spied on the two.

"What is it?" Elsa asked now.

"Not here. Come on, let's go to your place."

And before she could even blink, Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her into the building which he knew was her house, thanks to Flynn.

"Did you see that?" Anna asked, not averting her eyes from the two walking figures.

"I most definitely did," Rapunzel whispered.

And once Jack and Elsa went inside, Rapunzel and Anna looked at each other with wide eyes, before both spoke the same words at the same time.

"I ship it!"

...

"Let go of me you bastard!" Elsa hissed, pulling her hand away from his grasp once they entered. "And who even gave you the permission to enter my house, more or less _told_ you that this is my house?!" she yelled.

"Geez, would it hurt to calm down?! Now can we please talk?" Jack asked. "And for the record, I saw you come in and go out of the house plenty of times so I assumed it was yours."

"Fine... Now tell me, what did you want to know about the punishment?" Elsa asked, sitting down on the couch while Jack took a seat opposite to her.

"You've ordered me to stay here for six weeks to fix all the mess I made. But I don't have much time, okay? I need to be in California for something really important. I was actually on my way to the airport the night I got caught here, but some problems arose and I ended up getting lost in the forest," Jack explained.

Elsa just stared at him before she started chuckling.

"What kind of an idiot are you Frost? The nearby airport hasn't been open for the past two months, and there's a notice plastered on its front gate that it won't be open for another year or so. How do you suppose you could've flown to California from an airport which doesn't have any planes or which isn't even open?" Elsa asked. Jack was completely taken-aback and Elsa could see he wasn't faking it.

"WHAT?" he yelled. Elsa just raised an eyebrow but said nothing else.

 _So that's why those horses were waiting for us! Whoever sent them knew we were going there and we were tricked into going through this forest!_

"Um, hello? Earth to Frost?" Elsa waved her hand in front of his face, which made him snap out of his thoughts. "So what is this important business you have at California?" she asked.

"I'm one of the finalists for the Tachyons Cup and the final tournament is gonna take place at California this year," he said proudly, smirking smugly. He expected her to swoon and quickly start flirting with him or at least be shocked that she's been treating a Tachyons Cup finalist like shit this whole time.

But what he _didn't_ expect happened as Elsa's eyes widened, fear flashing in those wide, sapphire blue eyes. She backed away a little, but then quickly composed herself.

"O-oh," she said, looking down at her hands.

 _What's all that about?_

"So you see, I need to be there at least three weeks before the race. And if I stay here for six weeks, I'm gonna be a whole week late for the race," he continued, speaking just a bit softer.

"Okay then, you're gonna stay here only till you fix everything you've done. Even if you finish your work within a week, you can leave," she said.

"I'm okay with that but do I really have to fix everything?" Jack asked, kinda happy and annoyed at the same time.

"Yes," she said without even a second's gap.

Jack raised an eyebrow but then sighed and stood.

"Fine then. See ya." He walked out but then paused at the door and looked back. Elsa was still staring at her hands and didn't even look up at him. Jack just slowly closed the door before walking towards Flynn's shop again, to keep the things away before heading for dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

_~The Next Day~_

"Jack? You up?" Flynn's voice was heard from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, just gimme a minute" Jack quickly put on his leather jacket and walked out before following Flynn to the main hall for breakfast.

"Fill yourself as much as you can. You're gonna be working a lot today," Flynn commented.

"On what, exactly?" Jack asked.

"The Rink. We need to start fixing it or you're never going home. And besides, the head will be arriving tomorrow and he would expect at least a little bit of work done" Flynn informed.

"The head?" Jack asked in confusion.

"Yeah. The actual head, the commander, the boss of this place. So you better eat up quick buddy, I still need to introduce you to Bessie, with whom you'll be working with later on" Flynn said as the two started eating.

"Bessie? A girl?" Jack smirked, internally cringing at his own behaviour.

"You'll know," Flynn commented as the others joined them.

...

" _This_ is _Bessie?!_ " Jack exclaimed, staring in shock as Flynn pulled out an old Zamboni Ice Resurfacer. Flynn smirked as he stopped it outside the garage, just a few feet away from the ice rink's boundary.

"Oh yes! Jack, meet Bessie. Bessie, meet Jack, your new partner!" Flynn introduced.

"Seriously?!" Jack yelled.

"Yup. Well, do you know how to use a Resurfacer?" Flynn asked.

"Never had the need to learn," Jack shrugged.

Flynn sighed, exhausted with his attitude before he led Jack away from the Resurfacer.

"First let's start with removing all the broken ice from the rink." And he led Jack to the wide space which was covered with cracked ice. Jack whistled at how bad it looked before he yelped when Flynn threw something like a pole with a pointed end.

"The heck am I supposed to do with this?!" Jack exclaimed.

" _You_ are gonna use that pole, insert it in between the cracks to lift the ice and throw them outside the rink," Flynn smirked.

"Don't you have a machine for that as well?" Jack asked.

"We do, but it doesn't work currently so we have to go with this method." Flynn shrugged.

"Do I _have_ to lift the ice? I mean, we can always let it melt and then freeze it again." Jack pointed out.

"That's what we do most of the time, but the thing is you don't _have_ any time. This place is cold literally all the time, except in summer, which means the ice takes hell lotta time to melt down. You want to finish it as quick as possible, right? Then this is the only way." Flynn replied.

"Fine," Jack muttered. "This is gonna be a piece of cake."

...

"God damn it! Just how big _is_ this rink?" Jack groaned, throwing off the twentieth chunk of ice off the rink. He had been working all morning and afternoon, and not even half of the rink was over. He huffed for the hundredth time, digging the pole between two cracks and putting all his strength in breaking the ice. "Can't you at least help me with this?" He looked up at Flynn, who was sitting on a bench outside the rink, ice cream in hand as he watched Jack.

"Your mess, you clean." Flynn shrugged.

"What a great attitude," Jack shot back, rolling his eyes.

"Look who's talking about attitude," Flynn retorted.

Jack rolled his eyes, about to reply with something sarcastic when both of them heard a car honk.

Flynn quickly got up and greeted the man who got out of the car. The two of them spoke for a few minutes before Flynn gestured Jack to come over. Raising an eyebrow, Jack walked over, wiping the sweat on his forehead.

The man was taller than Jack and Flynn, almost as tall as North. His hair looked brighter and more silvery than Jack's but unlike his own hair, the man's hair was neatly swept back. His skin looked pale and his blue eyes intimidated him, though Jack hid it well. His lips were in a thin line, making him look even more emotionless than Elsa herself. He wore a white tux with a white tie and basically everything about this guy was white.

 _Who IS this guy?_

"Mr Moon, this is Jack Frost, the one Elsa told you about. Jack, this is Manny Moon, the Head of this place," Flynn introduced. Jack's eyes widened but he quickly recovered, shaking hands with the intimidating man. Moon barely looked at him, before he turned back to Flynn.

"Where is Elsa?" He asked.

"The last I saw her was with Anna and Rapunzel," Flynn informed. Manny nodded in thanks before he walked off, not bothering to look at Jack.

"What's his problem?" Jack asked once he was out of earshot.

"Better be careful around him Frost. Manny has got a kind heart, but he can be very scary at times. Everyone around here loves and respects him since he's kind with everyone. Well, everyone except Elsa," Flynn explained.

"Except Elsa? Why? I thought she would be his favourite seeing how both of them behave the same way," Jack questioned.

"I better not tell you that tale if I want to stay alive to see tomorrow. If you ever get on Elsa's good side, you can ask her yourself. But lemme tell you just one thing, the Elsa you know and the Elsa I know are completely different. And the Elsa I know is the real one." Flynn grinned.

 _The heck is that even supposed to mean?_

"Now get back to work Frost." And the brunette pushed the racer back to the rink.

...

 _This is my only chance..._

Jack snuck behind the buildings, sneakily heading to where he had his bag previously when no one was seeing. He grinned to himself once he slung his bag on his shoulder and grabbed his staff. He silently flew between the trees in no particular direction and cheered silently when he found a road. Mentally patting himself on his back, Jack flew right above the road, hoping the end of the road would be connected to the main road.

 _I can't believe I escaped so easily..._

And before he could take a turning, he dashed into something, which threw him back and he fell on his butt. Groaning as he rubbed his forehead, he looked up and his eyes widened as big as saucers when he saw Elsa and Flynn standing before him, the former wearing the unamused expression she always wore while Flynn stood with a smug expression.

"Did you seriously think you can escape from up so easily? Did you take us for fools?" Elsa asked.

"But- but how-"

"Did you never wonder why Elsa appointed me out of everyone to watch you and to stay by your side?" Flynn asked.

"Because you're jobless?" Jack rolled his eyes.

"He's far from being 'jobless'. Flynn's job is one of the most important ones around here." Elsa informed.

"Really? You want me to believe that?" Jack raised an eyebrow. His eyebrows furrowed when Elsa bent closer to his face, placing her hands on her knees.

"You're not the only one with powers, Frost. Flynn has an ability to sense everyone's movements, or at least the people around him. He has immense stealth skills as well. Which makes it obvious how we know you left," Elsa explained before stepping back.

"Yeah, you're right. It was silly of me to think that I'm the only one with powers here. But flying isn't my only power," he said cunningly, staring at the ground.

Ice suddenly shot out of his staff and almost knocked them off their feet, but Flynn and Elsa quickly regained their balance. Jack took this small disturbance to his advantage and got to his feet. He aimed his staff at Flynn, ice and frost shooting out only to knock out the guy, not cause any serious harm. But then his eyes widened yet again when he saw his ice crash against something and fall around him. And his jaw dropped when he saw Elsa standing in front of Flynn with her hand outstretched.

 _She has ice powers as well..._

"Enough of this shit already. Take him," Elsa commanded. Flynn walked forward and Jack was about to attack him again when thick-ice bound his hands and legs together, letting his staff fall to the floor. Jack struggled, trying to control the ice using his hands but it remained unaffected.

 _I can't control her ice?_

And while Jack sat in confusion, Flynn quickly lifted him and threw him on his shoulder, carrying the poor racer like a bag of potatoes.

"No! Let me go! Ugh, I am gonna make sure you all are sent to prison for treating me like this!" Jack growled.

"Good luck with that sweety." Elsa rolled her eyes before the three made their way back to the rink.


	5. Chapter 5

"I can't believe you! You actually tried to _escape?_ " Kristoff rolled with laughter when he heard the news from Flynn.

"You must be crazy if you thought you could escape the place with Flynn and Elsa keeping watch!" Merida grinned smugly when Jack glared at her.

"Well, excuse me for trying to escape from this hell!" Jack hissed.

"You are probably the only one who would call this place hell," Anna pointed out.

"Whatever" Jack rolled his eyes, sipping the coffee which Flynn offered.

"Well, you better eat up fast. You've still got work to do." Flynn smirked, just when Jack groaned loudly and dramatically buried his face in his arms, which caused the others to laugh. Jack looked up, looking at everyone's happy faces and felt his heart grow warm, just a bit.

"Ooh, somebody looks especially happy today..." Anna cooed. wiggling her eyebrows.

Elsa rolled her eyes as she came and stood next to their table.

"Nothing like that. I just came to tell that Mr Moon wanted to talk to Punzie and you," she told Anna before turning to Merida. "Your mom was searching for you, telling that your brothers caused trouble again and she needs your help." Then she turned to Kristoff, "Oaken's called up and informed that our supplies are ready so please go and collect them as soon as possible. I'm sure Sven would love to run through the forest after so many days"

Rapunzel, Anna, Merida, and Kristoff groaned and sighed before they started heading in different directions. And finally, Elsa turned to Flynn, with a smirk on her face.

"I'm sure you know what your job is" she grinned, before glancing over at Jack who had an annoyed expression plastered on his face.

"Well, _I_ don't," he bit out.

" _You_ are gonna continue removing the broken ice, fill the rink with water and cover the place for it to freeze," she replied.

"And after that?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure you deserve a bit of rest after that, so once you finish that, you can probably look around the place or just head back to your room to rest while the water freezes over," She informed. Elsa opened her mouth to say something but then her wristwatch beeped, causing Elsa to look at it before she returned her gaze back on the two men. "Well, I've got some work to do. Good day." and she was off to who-knows-where.

"Does she always dress up and talk so formally?" Jack asked Flynn after making sure that Elsa was far enough.

"She can't help it. Elsa's always been this way. To be honest, I don't even remember the last time I heard her laugh out loud. Its difficult being in her shoes. Having to manage all of us and learning all about running this place from a very young age has changed her, though we do hope its temporary," Flynn explained.

Jack looked down with a thoughtful expression, having another argument with himself in his head.

 _Everyone has their situations, huh..._

 _Wait, I can't be sympathizing with her! I need to get out of her as fast as possible and attend the race!_

Soon enough, Jack left the dining hall alongside Flynn, but his eyes treacherously glanced back, stealing a glance at the secretive platinum-blonde.

 _But still... She is a pretty mysterious person..._

...

"Hey, Frost! I'm gonna go and get myself something to drink! You want anything?!" Flynn yelled from the other side of the rink.

"Yeah sure!" Jack yelled back, throwing the last chunk of ice off the rink.

The afternoon sun shone brightly right above him and Jack placed the ice-breaking-pole on the ground, sitting next to all the huge chunks of ice just outside the rink on the ground. Breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat on his forehead using his jacket which he had tied around his waist when it started becoming too hot. His gaze became unamused and relieved when he saw the thin bottom layer of ice melt under the heat. He fell backwards on the snow, sighing in content and closing his eyes when he felt his aching back finally attain rest.

"Got tired, did you?"

Jack's eyes snapped open, his head turning to the side when he heard the familiar female voice which brought a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Nope, not at all. Because cracking the ice and throwing it all over the place is _so_ easy." He rolled his eyes.

Elsa walked over and stood next to him just as he sat up, staring at the cracked up rink in front of him.

"Haha, hilarious. I'm still surprised that you didn't use your powers to remove the ice or to at least lift the ice and throw it here" Elsa tilted her head in confusion.

"My powers are _precious._ I'm not gonna use them just to do this kinda stuff," he groaned.

"Wow, what an amazing excuse," Elsa rolled her eyes.

Jack glanced at her face once and found her staring at the rink as well, the sunshine falling perfectly on her platinum-blonde hair, which was pulled into its usual sophisticated bun, and on her big blue eyes. Unintentionally, he continued staring until he remembered something.

"Though I don't know why _you_ don't use your powers to clean this rink and to make another one" he stated.

"Unlike you, I have actual reasons which are too personal," she replied, her face as emotionless as ever.

"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow, getting further confused when he saw a sudden strike of sadness in her eyes. Elsa shook her head lightly before looking down at him again.

"Whatever. You're sweating like a pig. Here" and she held out her hand, a small white towel in her hand.

"Um, thanks?" He took the towel from her before placing it at the back of his neck to wipe the sweat, raising an eyebrow yet again. "So nice of you to show kindness towards me."

"Just because you're a prisoner doesn't mean I'm gonna let you die, Frost." Elsa rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to tell something when her watch started beeping. "Well, I gotta go. Continue your work. See you later." And she turned away from him, walking back in the direction she came from.

Jack stood up, his eyes narrowing when he saw something hiding behind the scarf she wore around her neck. He silently followed behind, sneaking a peek at it. And when he was close enough, his eyes widened when he saw the mark on her neck.

"Is that a snowflake tattoo?" He asked out loud, expecting her to ignore him and walk away.

What he did _not_ expect was her quickly turning around to face him, her hand shooting up to cover the left side of the nape of her neck, her calm demeanor vanishing in thin air. Jack's eyebrows rose in amusement and a smirk made its way to his lips when he saw an adorable blush appearing on her face.

"W-what?! O-of course not!"

Jack's smirk widened as he leaned closer to her. "Did the snow queen just get herself a tattoo?"

Elsa leaned back, her blush intensifying which just made Jack want to torture her more. "No, its not a tattoo!"

"Oh, _really?_ " He drawled, leaning close to her neck as if to take a look.

Elsa jumped away from him, tightening her scarf around her neck before turning away abruptly. "I have work!" And she ran off.

Jack just continued watching her go, his smirk melting into a smile.

 _I gotta admit, she is kinda cute..._

Suddenly slapped in the face by reality, Jack's eyes widened in shock.

 _I did NOT just think that!_

He looked around in panic, checking if anyone is around him before he hit himself on his head.

 _I need to stop thinking shit like that! This is not like me!_

"Um, you okay?"

Jack jumped, startled as he spun around and met with Flynn's confused gaze.

"H-huh?" Was all he could muster.

"You started hitting yourself pretty hard so did anything happen or..." Flynn trailed off.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing happened. Just gimme my drink." He quickly grabbed one of the bottles from Flynn's hand and started gulping it down really fast.

"No wait-"

And Jack screamed as he fell in fits of cough, holding his dying throat and regretting gulping down the Sprite.

"Well," Flynn, whistled. "Rest in peace."

...

"How exactly _do_ you control this thing?" Jack asked, pointing at the various buttons before him.

Once he got over his coughs, thanks to a glass of water, Jack was led to the building closest to the rink, which he later found out was where the buttons controlling the rink pipes were placed. And to say he was mind blown was an understatement, seeing the number of buttons and controls just for pouring water in the rink.

"It's complicated. Took me three years to learn it completely" Flynn stated.

"Why do you even _need_ so many controls? I mean, can't you just take a bucket, carry the water from a lake or something and pour it in here?" Jack asked.

"Are you sure you're a professional skater and racer?" Flynn asked.

"Of course I am!" Jack retorted.

"Well, then it seems like your brain has not been used for a long time" Flynn commented, earning a glare from Jack. "And to answer your question, first of all, lake water when frozen doesn't exactly look good in a rink and second of all, if you're ready to get the water from miles away, I _can_ offer you a bucket." Flynn grinned, to which Jack muttered a 'no thank you'.

"I don't think I have the time to learn about these damned buttons so can you please release the water?" Jack asked.

"Sure thing." And the brunette started pressing various buttons which worried Jack.

"Um, are you sure that's how it's done? You look like a maniac who's trying every button he sees," Jack commented, stepping back.

Flynn didn't reply, continuing to press the buttons when-

 _ **BOOM!**_

"What the hell did you just do?" Jack asked, eyes wide in surprise and shock. Flynn was staring at his hands and at the controls, shock creeping through his veins.

"What happened?!" Rapunzel, Anna, and Merida ran in before the former slapped her own forehead.

"How many times have I told you to _not_ meddle with the controls?" She hissed, pulling her husband by his ear.

"Not my fault! I pressed them correctly but it still exploded!" Flynn accused, pointing at the controls.

"And he said he had learnt everything," Jack muttered to himself, watching the couple in amusement.

"Don't tell me its Eugene again." Elsa stepped in, sighing as she walked over to the controls. "What did you do this time?"

"I swear I pressed the buttons in the right order!" Flynn defended himself.

"And the speed?" She asked in a determined voice. Flynn opened his mouth, pausing as he thought over it. Elsa sighed again before turning to Jack. "What actually happened here?"

Trying to forget the last time they spoke, Jack cleared his throat before he looked her in the eye.

"After finishing the work at the rink, Flynn brought me to this building, telling that we need to fill the rink with water right now. I was too confused with the controls so I asked him if he could do it, only because he told me that he knows what to do since, apparently, he had been learning for three years. So I moved away and let him control the buttons. But he started going too fast and I backed away and well, you know the rest." Jack shrugged.

Elsa continued to stare at him, trying to figure out if he was lying, but Jack determinedly stared back at her eyes.

And while these two continued their intense staring contest, Anna and Rapunzel watched them with wide eyes, mistaking the stare to be the type where the couple is unable to get their eyes off their soulmate.

"Anna? Control yourself," Punzie whispered to the strawberry-blonde, her eyes still stuck on the pair.

"It's taking up all my energy to hold back but I'll manage. And do. Not. Fangirl," Anna whispered back.

Finally convinced that he was saying the truth, Elsa looked away, closing her eyes. Jack smirked, telling himself that he did have chances of getting his point across to her.

"Open the hatch, Flynnie," Elsa muttered.

"But the damned thing is too heavy and-"

Elsa glared at Flynn, who quickly shut his mouth and walked to the corner of the room, starting to lift up a trapdoor. He struggled, opening only a bit of it.

"Here, lemme help." Jack walked and stood opposite to Flynn, grabbing the other handle.

He heard a faint 'thanks' from Flynn but he was too busy concentrating on lifting up the heavy door. The two kept struggling and after a few seconds, they had lifted the door almost halfway up.

"How...can a damned d-door...be so heavy!?" Jack hissed, using all his strength to lift it up.

"Never knew...never cared..." Flynn replied, sweating profusely as he continued tugging it up.

"Oh get over it already!" Anna growled, walking over to them.

She grabbed the door with one hand and swung open it with so much force that the door crashed on the floor in a loud bang. Jack and Flynn, who had quickly retreated their hands to cover their ears when the door went flying, just stared at Anna who didn't even seem to break a sweat.

"W-whoa..." Jack whispered, his eyes still wide in shock and awe.

"That's our Anna for you," Rapunzel smirked.

"Good job Anna" Elsa smiled, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.

Anna smiled back confidently, grabbing a ladder from nearby and lowering it in the passageway.

"Its gonna take some time for me to fix it so you guys can go back," Elsa informed before she vanished down the passage.

"Sure!" Merida replied before she marched out.

"Be back soon!" Anna called out, her voice echoing in the passage.

"Where exactly is she going?" Jack asked, still staring at the hole.

"To fix the pipes from below, obviously." Merida rolled her eyes. She opened the door of the cabin and left.

"But why her? Why can't anyone else go to fix the pipes?" Jack asked.

"'Cause there's no one else who knows this place better than Elsa and Mr Moon. And besides, since this rink was created by our grandmother who had ice powers, the pipes are made of ice very similar to Elsa's." Anna explained.

"Trust me, the place is freakin cold!" Flynn exaggerated, still sitting on the floor.

"Seriously?" Jack continued staring at the hole.

"Yeah, it goes all the way down and the first time I set foot on the floor, I almost froz- woah!" Flynn stumbled, losing his balance as he tried standing up but ended up crashing into Jack, who slipped and fell down the hole.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel called out just as Anna caught Flynn before he fell down the hole, but Jack was already heard falling down the pit.

"Well, that just happened," Flynn commented, still staring at the hole as Anna and Punzie continued gaping at the hole.

"Jack and Elsa are down the passage," Anna whispered so that only Punzie could hear her, though she was still staring at the hole.

"All alone," Punzie continued.

"Where there's less space."

"And less light."

"And he might come out if we're not fast enough," Anna realised. The girls gasped before they rushed to the door and shut the hole, grinning evilly while Flynn just stared at the two in confusion.

"Jack and Elsa are still down there, you know?" Flynn pointed out.

"Which is exactly why we closed the door." Rapunzel and Anna smirked.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack managed to catch himself upright using his powers, but he couldn't control his powers properly since he didn't have his staff, which meant that he wasn't able to hold himself in the air for long. He quickly grabbed on to the ladder and started climbing up.

 _This passage sure is small..._

He reached the top and groaned when he found the door closed. He tried pushing it but quickly retreated his hands when he started losing balance on the ladder.

 _Why is this door so damn heavy and WHY IS THERE SO LITTLE SPACE IN HERE?_

Groaning to himself, Jack started climbing down and quickly reached the bottom. He walked forward carefully, looking around the small passage, just before he slipped and fell. He groaned to himself as he stood up, trying to look for a way out, with no success.

 _What the hell am I gonna do now?_

Jack just stood there, trying to think of a solution until he heard some sort of sound coming from ahead. Forgetting about his current situation, he walked on and found Elsa doing something, crystal-clear pipes visible on the high ceiling.

"Wow, that ice sure looks gorgeous," Jack called out.

Elsa snapped her attention towards his voice before her annoyed expression returned again.

"What are you doing down here, Frost?" She asked, turning back to her work.

"Woah, is it wrong for me to help someone out?" He joked and he walked closer.

" _You_ helping someone out? Hard to believe." Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Geez, I'm not _that_ bad! I'm just selective about the people I wanna help." Jack shrugged.

"Wow, I must be honoured that I'm added in that list." Elsa mocked him.

"Look, the only reason I'm here is that Flynn Freakin Rider managed to trip over his own feet and pushed me down the hole. Not because I wanna help you or anything" Jack muttered, staring at the pipes.

"Oh really? Is that so? 'Cause I remember you asking me whether it was wrong for you to help me," Elsa commented.

"I was _joking."_

"Yeah, _right._ "

"Whatever, the door is closed which means you're stuck with me right now. Isn't there another way to go up there? I'm not able to open it from the top of the ladder." Jack informed.

"The most famous person in the world is unable to open a door. Quite some news, isn't it?" Elsa smirked.

"I'm a _racer,_ not a wrestler or damned bodybuilder." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Well, if that's the case then how about you help me?"

Jack snapped his eyes back at her to check whether she was being serious. And when he saw that she wasn't joking, he quickly held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

"This job needs _ice powers._ I'm not really good at it, even with my staff in my hands. I prefer using my wind magic more." He shrugged. Elsa turned away, staring at the pipes as she spoke.

"You should be lucky that you've got two powers. It's not common to see people possessing two magical powers," Elsa whispered, though her voice was heard loud and clear in the small space.

"Well, it is a blessing sometimes but according to me, my ice powers are completely useless. I would've preferred something more powerful like fire or darkness or even-"

"Any magical power can be powerful if you use it in the right way." And with that, Elsa stayed silent and continued to work on the pipes.

"Well you sure do take this seriously," he mumbled to himself as he kicked a stone. "So, how can I help?" He asked, walking towards her.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Elsa raised an eyebrow.

"I've got nothing else to do. I don't think the others will be coming to our rescue anytime soon" Jack shrugged.

"Fine then. Just hold the broken pipes while I join them using my ice," Elsa explained, signalling him to stand next to her.

"Sounds pretty simple. Like this, right?" He held two of the broken sides of the pipe, looking over at her for confirmation. Whereas Elsa just stared at him with wide eyes before she started cracking up. "What's so funny?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"You do realise that you're holding two different pipes and not two broken sides of the same pipe, right? One of them is as thick as a pumpkin while the other is thinner than my pinkie" She continued chuckling.

Jack blinked before he stared at the pipes. Indeed, now that he actually saw it, both of them were completely different ones. Though embarrassed and pissed, he looked up and glanced at her laughing face.

 _Fine, I admit, she is pretty cute..._

"What the hell are you staring at?" Elsa asked teasingly as she nudged him.

"I don't think I've seen such a more beautiful smile than yours," He flirted. "You should smile more often."

At that moment he realised that ass much as he hated flirting and did it just because his trainers told him to, that compliment was something that he actually meant.

Jack expected some sassy reply but was instead met with a drop in her expression when she realised what he meant. Her face which was full of mirth just seconds ago was completely emotionless by now.

"Get back to work," she mumbled and grabbed the actual other end of one of the pipes, which she handed over to Jack. She groaned loudly when she saw the way he was holding it. "Don't you know how to hold ice?! Its gonna break if you grip it like that!" She exclaimed before she pulled one of the pipes from his hands. She grabbed his hand, startling Jack, and turned it over so that his palm was facing upwards and gently placed the pipe in his hand.

And while she was concentrating on the pipe, Jack's eyes were wide as he stared at her. When exactly was the last time he held hands with someone?

 _Her hands sure are cold..._

"Do the same with your other hand," she ordered.

"H-huh?" Jack blinked.

 _Get yourself together!_

"The pipe, dummy!" Elsa scolded.

"Right!" Jack mumbled as he placed his hand below the pipe and not on it.

Elsa stood in front of him so that she could freeze the pipe together again. Jack glanced at her face one more time, seeing the emotionless look again.

 _So what could I possibly do to get her in a good mood? It was my fault for getting her sad after all..._

 _Woah, wait the frick up, from when the heck did I start caring about_ _ **her**_ _feelings?!_

Jack bit his lip, glancing at her once again.

 _I don't like seeing her so dull... So who cares? Now let's see, how to make her smile..._

Jack hid his grin when he remembered what happened that afternoon. He tried peeking into her scarf and smirked when he caught sight of the black mark.

"So... A snowflake, huh?" He asked as casually as possible.

The reaction was instant.

Elsa's face turned pink, her left hand rising up to cover it up as she stared at him with wide eyes. Her blush intensified when he smirked and leaned closer to her face.

"That is pretty hot for a Snow Queen like yourself," he whispered huskily.

Elsa just looked away and placed her index finger on the tip of his nose before pushing him away. Jack stepped back, rubbing his nose before he smirked at her again.

"Tell anyone else about it and I'll make sure that no one knows even the place where I bury you," Elsa threatened while glaring at him, but the blush on her face just made her look like an adorable toddler who got angry that someone stole their toy.

"Aw, aren't you adorable?" Jack teased pinching her cheek.

"No, I'm not!" Elsa exclaimed as she slapped his hand away and Jack noticed that she was getting redder by the minute. He grabbed her wrist, turned her back towards him and pinned her against his chest.

"Sure, whatever you say, _Snowflake"_ Jack whispered in her ear and smirk in satisfaction when he saw her eyes widen, face turning red to the maximum.

 _Damn, I wanna flirt with her as long as I'm here if_ _ **that's**_ _the reaction I'm gonna get..._

Elsa quickly got out of his grasp and walked away. Smiling to himself, Jack followed close behind before he realised just how many pipes were broken.

"Wow. Trust Flynn to make a huge mess out of simple things," he sassed.

"As much as I want to support him and argue with you, you're right. I have to fix about 12 pipes before I can go home," Elsa informed.

"So I just have to find the broken pieces of the pipe, and you fix them?" Jack asked.

"Yup. I mean, if you're up to the task," Elsa added slyly, the blushing woman from merely a few seconds ago replaced by the confident young woman who loved to challenge him. Jack smirked, his competitive spirit rising.

"I'm gonna pair up all these pipes before you can even open those pretty little lips of yours" he smirked.

"What the heck?" Elsa asked, blinking in disbelief at the sudden compliment of her lips.

"Its called _flirting,_ Snowflake." Jack rolled his eyes, grabbing some random pipe.

"You better not. Unless you want your staff back?" Elsa asked.

"What-" Jack stopped himself when he saw the steel black staff in her white hands. He walked to her, taking it from her hands.

"Where did you even find it in this dark place?" He asked, feeling familiarity wash over him as he held his staff.

"Oh, it was just lying around. I had given it to Flynn and had told him to hide it and it seems like he thought this was a good hiding place." Elsa shrugged.

"Well, this makes work easier for me," Jack commented. He swished his staff and frost flew out and stuck on all the pipes. He tried lifting them but the pipes didn't even budge. "What the-"

"It seems like your magic doesn't work on mine. Just like how you couldn't control my ice last night when you tried escaping," Elsa stated.

"Yeah, don't have to remind me twice," Jack muttered, disintegrating the frost.

"Let's get to work now," Elsa said, walking forward and lifting all the pipes using her powers, pairing up the ones with the same width.

Jack just watched and soon enough, all the broken pieces floated before them in the form of beautiful crystal-coloured light blue pipes.

"Good job," Jack commented.

"And this is the tough part" Elsa groaned.

"Why? What's wrong?" Jack asked.

"The ceiling is way too high, so its kinda difficult seeing where I'm setting the pipes. That results in thin ones getting joint with thick ones and the pipes ending up crooked or not even big enough to fit in the space," She groaned.

"Why can't you just make some kind of staircases or something to reach up there?" Jack asked.

Elsa looked at the floor, going kinda silent again.

"As I said, I have my own personal reasons why I don't use my powers. Fixing these pipes- I've done it ever since I got to know that I have Ice powers. But for other things, I'm just not comfortable using my powers," Elsa explained.

Jack just stared at her silent form for a few seconds before he thought of something and fake sighed.

"Ugh, I guess this leaves us with no other choice," He fake groaned.

"What choice?" Elsa asked, now looking at him and raising an eyebrow.

"Glad you asked," Jack smirked before he swept her in his arms.

Elsa freaked out, her instincts kicking in as she quickly wrapped her hands around his neck for support. And just as she was about to move to get out of his grasp, Jack stood on his staff and jumped into the air.

"Jack Frost what the actual hell are you doing?!" Elsa screamed.

"Helping," Jack replied sarcastically before he flew over to the pipes. "There. Now you can fix them properly." He commented.

"You idiot! Let me down right now!" Elsa yelled at him.

"Sure, if that's what you want" Jack shrugged, letting go of her legs but tightening his grip around her waist so that she doesn't fall.

Feeling her legs swinging over nothing, Elsa was hanging on to him, literally hugging him around the neck with her chin planted on his shoulder.

"Aw, I didn't know you liked me so much Snowflake." Jack grinned before he wrapped both of his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder as he lifted her up a bit before leaning back so that she could stand on the staff between his legs.

"I hate you," Elsa muttered. She quickly started working with the pipes, trying to finish as soon as possible, while Jack enjoyed his time, his arms wrapped around her waist.

 _She does feel colder than most people..._

 _When was the last time I ACTUALLY hugged someone when it wasn't for formality?_

And without realizing it, Jack brought her a little closer, buried deep in his thoughts. Feeling him hug her tighter, Elsa turned to scold him but then she stopped, seeing a sad and regretful expression and a scowl on his face.

 _Now that's an expression I have almost all the time..._

 _...but not something I've seen on his face before..._

"Is something wrong?" She asked softly.

Looking up, Jack realised what he had been doing and loosed his grip, looking away from her bright blue eyes.

"Nothing," he muttered, looking down.

Elsa just looked at him with a 'do-not-lie-to-me' look on her face. Jack glanced up and saw her expression before he groaned loudly and shook his head again.

"It's just something I don't wanna talk about," he muttered, almost to himself.

"Okay, if that's what you want," Elsa shrugged, "At least I'm not invading others' privacy like how you are invading mine by suddenly pulling me against you," she rolled her eyes.

Smiling for no reason, Jack pulled back a bit and covered up his smile with a smirk. "But you seem like you're enjoying it a lot."

"Don't get your hopes too high, Frost. Just take me to the other side of this place so that I can fix these pipes and get this over with." Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you Highness wishes," Jack joked before they flew over, Elsa quickly finishing her work.

They descended to the floor and Elsa was quick enough to get out of his grasp. Jack didn't say anything until Elsa asked him to hand over the staff.

"I really can't trust you to _not_ escape when you're still having it so _hand it over,_ " Elsa hissed.

And when he refused yet again, she just pulled it out of his hands before he could even blink, and sealed it to the ceiling with her ice. Jack tried to summon it and it moved and struggled to come to him, but the ice held it back, firmly sticking it to the ceiling.

Giving up after attempting for a few minutes, Jack followed Elsa as they walked back to the trapdoor. Elsa pressed a hidden button and a few minutes later, a huge bang was heard from above as the others opened the heavy door for them.

Elsa made Jack go up first, and the racer did so, climbing a few steps up before smirking at her as he assured her that he wouldn't have seen up her skirt if she had climbed up first. After that, he climbed up as fast as possible and once outside, he grabbed Flynn and ran towards his room, knowing better than to face a furious Elsa.

...

"Finally!" Jack gasped as he opened the huge trapdoor, trying to be as quiet as possible.

He had managed to sneak out of his room in the night with his bags, determined to leave this place even if it meant Elsa and Flynn might catch him again. He had entered the control room through the window, which he had left open before heading out for dinner, and had been pulling at the heavy door while desperately trying to not make any noise. And now, it finally opened.

Jack quietly went down the ladder and stood right below the spot where his staff was stuck.

 _My powers might not work on your ice, Snowflake, but it can definitely break it._

And with that thought in his head, he conjured up a sharp icicle using his powers and started breaking the ice bit by bit. The ice didn't break so easily, which made him realise just how strong her ice was.

 _And she wasn't even using all of her strength. Just how powerful is that girl..?_

As the ice finally cracked and broke due to the staff's weight, Jack danced in joy before flying out of the tunnel, not bothering to close the trapdoor. He quickly grabbed his bag and flew through the trees as fast as possible, the dim light from his staff helping him to see through the dark. He successfully reached a road and followed it to get out of the forest.

"Yes!" He cheered when he reached the tar road, the one where the strange creatures had attacked his bus.

"You never learn, do you?"

Jack turned around when he heard the familiar voice, and groaned loudly when he saw Elsa and Flynn casually walk towards him.

"Seriously, can't I just go?! The rink is almost finished, except for levelling the ice. You can just do that by yourself!" Jack complained.

"The punishment was that you finish _everything_ , Frost," Flynn smirked smugly, which made Jack to want to punch him in the face.

"And you won't be leaving until you do so" Elsa replied, staring at the sky in boredom. And before anyone could even blink, a rope was tied tightly to Jack's hands, preventing him from doing anything, and the other end of the rope was held by Elsa, who casually handed it over to Flynn. Jack just blinked when he saw Elsa take his staff in her own hands, and that's when he woke up from his shocked trance.

"When the-" Jack stuttered in shock, wondering how and when she took his staff while tying him up, which made Elsa turn to him and smirk evilly.

"Everyone has their own set of secrets, Frost," she said in a fake-sweet voice before they started walking back to the rink.

...

"Where were you three roaming so late in the night?" Mr Moon asked them the moment Flynn, Elsa, and Jack stepped into the rink.

"Jack tried to escape so we went to get him back" Flynn shrugged.

Manny just raised an eyebrow and looked at the rope tied around Jack's hands and at the culprit himself, before he turned his attention to Elsa.

"Stop using Flynn's powers for such silly matters. They are needed for the safety of this place and I don't want you using his powers as something for entertainment. Unlike some people, his powers are useful." He glared at her.

"I apologize," Elsa replied, her head bowed deeply.

Jack just raised his eyebrow, not understanding why the man was being so rude to her. And he felt even more confused as to why Elsa wasn't fighting back because it was unusual for him to see her being so submissive. And that's when Manny turned to Jack.

"And why exactly are you trying to escape, Mr Frost?" Manny asked.

"Because it's not fair that I have to work my ass off for something caused by accident!" Jack retorted.

"Though by accident, it still was caused by you." Manny pointed out.

"But I've already removed all the ice from the rink and Elsa has spread the water in the rink. Its gonna take _days_ for the damn thing to freeze completely. And once it's done, you people can just use that resurfacer thing -I don't know how to use that machine anyways- and finish up with the rink! And both of us are happy!" Jack explained.

Manny just stared at him skeptically before he glanced at the other two as well -though his glance was more like a glare when he looked at Elsa- before he sighed.

"Fine then, how about a deal?" Manny asked.

"And that is?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"You're a racer, aren't you? So you can compete in a race with one of us, who will be chosen by me. If you win, you can leave this place at once. But if _we_ win, you stay here until the rink is completely finished. Deal?" Manny asked, holding out his hand.

 _This will be so easy to win. They are just some random people in the middle of a forest anyways. This man doesn't know the trap he's setting himself in!_

And with that thought in his head, Jack smirked smugly before he shook hands with the old man.

 _California, here I come!_


	7. Chapter 7

"Are we gonna start or what?" Jack groaned, warming up for the race.

"Just hold up for a few more minutes" Flynn snickered.

Jack rolled his eyes, already starting to sweat in the heat. They were somewhere far from the rink and the place was really dry, not even a few trees around. It looked close to the mountains, where the temperature looked much better. And the reason he was given for coming here was that this place was much better for a track, and they had to be at a place which was unfamiliar for both Jack and whoever he was up against.

 _Speaking of which..._

"So, who is the person I'm gonna be competing with?" Jack asked, rolling his shoulders.

"Who knows, Manny might decide the easy, medium or hard level players." Flynn shrugged.

"And they are?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Definitely not Anna and Rapunzel because both are clumsy as hell. Easy would be Kristoff and me, medium is definitely Merida and hard is-"

"So, Jack Frost, are you ready?" A familiar voice asked.

Jack turned and met with the cold blue eyes of Mr Moon, who casually strolled towards the two men, followed by Elsa and Merida.

 _So Moon is here and Elsa is his sidekick so she has to be here. Then that would mean..._

He glanced at the fiery redhead, who just smirked at him. He smirked back before he looked back at Mr Moon.

 _Well, at least now that Elsa's here, I can probably show off how fast I can be..._

"Yup," he replied, shooting a glance at Elsa.

"Flynn, I think you know what to do," Mr Moon nodded his head at the brunette before he backed away and twirled his hand gracefully, conjuring a beautiful white armchair -which looked way too much like a small couch- and sat comfortably on it, turning to them and watching expectantly.

"So then, let's start off with the rules. Merida..." He trailed off, gesturing to the mountain with his eyes. The redhead grumbled halfheartedly as she mounted her horse and ran into the mountains.

"Wait what? How can you just let her go? Aren't we supposed to-"

"Calm down," Flynn rolled his eyes before he continued speaking. "For this race, you guys will have to go up that tall mountain, where Merida is stationed. She will be holding out swords, and you are to bring them here as fast as possible.

"But I'm warning you beforehand, do not start rejoicing if you see two swords with her when you reach her. Just for the sake of confusing you, she has three swords with her. So no matter when you reach her or who reaches her first, she _will_ be having two swords in her hands. Now that I've informed you, shall we start?" Flynn asked.

"Wait a minute, if Merida was brought along just to hold the swords, and you are the referee, then that would mean-" Jack stopped mid-sentence, turning to his side where Elsa stood a few steps away from him, her arms crossed and her expression mixed with anger, frustration and... pain?

"There's the signal," Flynn announced, spotting the green gas from the top of the mountain. "On your mark!" Flynn started as he lifted his hand, successfully bringing Jack's focus back to the game. "Get set..." He raised it even higher, "and Go!" He yelled, cutting through the air as he brought his hand down.

Jack quickly shot off, glancing back and raising an eyebrow when he saw Elsa just standing at the start line, looking at her nails in boredom.

 _Well, sucks to be her..._

Smirking to himself, he turned around and flew as fast as possible, reaching the peak of the mountain where Merida's wild mane could be spotted very easily. He lowered a bit and grabbed a sword out of her hand, trying to see if the third sword was anywhere around. He tried stopping mid-air but thanks to inertia he flew a bit more forward while trying to do so, before he finally turned around and started heading back to where Flynn and the others were standing.

Halfway through the journey back, he felt something fly past him but he spotted nothing when he turned around. Shaking his head and telling himself that it was just the wind, he headed back and saw Elsa walking back to the car which Mr Moon had taken while coming to the deserted area.

 _Well, seems like she didn't even bother to do anything..._

He landed next to Flynn and turned to the brunette, smirking smugly as he gave him the sword. Flynn grinned and took the sword from him.

"Congrats man, you're second," the brunette informed.

Jack's jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock, confusion and anger. "What the- What do you mean?!"

"I mean what I told. You're second. The first sword is right there," Flynn pointed at two square-shaped rocks having the numbers '1' and '2' written on them. And there was a sword similar to the one he brought sticking out from the rock with the number '1'.

"What?! This can't be happening!" Jack yelled.

"Well, the race is over. Ready to go back to the rink, Jack?" Manny asked, walking over to them.

 _Oh hell NO!_

"But- this isn't fair! I know you guys cheated!" Jack yelled, pointing at Manny.

"Be careful of what you speak of, Frost," Elsa commented, leaning against a rock a few steps away from them, with a snowboard made of ice at her feet.

"You!" Jack yelled, pointing a finger at her as he let his rage take over him, making Elsa raise an eyebrow. "You cheated! I know you cheated! You were just standing and lazing around when I flew off, and then you suddenly have the sword?! I bet that you had another one of those swords kept somewhere and you just used it once I went away! You thieving and lying little-"

"Now hold up right there," Elsa held up a hand, glaring at him so venomously with a flash of pain, which made Jack stop reluctantly. He stared at her and saw how she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath and released it before she looked back up and glared at him.

"You think I had an extra sword huh? Well, sorry to burst your bubble but those swords are the hereditary weapons passed down for generations in the Dunbroch family, one each for the father, mother and their firstborn. All of them have the Dunbroch clan symbol on them and I repeat, there are only three swords in total. Which means, there isn't a fourth. Understood? Or is it too much for your dumb brain to take in?" Elsa asked.

Jack's eye twitched in anger as he glared back, though his nerves were kinda shaking at the deadly glare she was giving him.

"I call a rematch!" He demanded.

Elsa just raised an eyebrow, before she looked at Manny behind Jack.

"Okay, I don't have any problem with that," Moon nodded.

Elsa shrugged and walked past Jack to the Starting Line again. Jack followed her, muttering under his breath as he did so. He stood away from her, crossing his arms as he huffed. And right then, Merida came back on her horse, confused when she saw them at the starting line again.

"Wait, are we having a rematch now?" Merida raised an eyebrow.

"Yup, because Frost here doesn't seem to accept that Elsa won the previous race," Flynn rolled his eyes.

"Merida, how many swords does your family own?" Jack asked.

"Plenty. But if you're asking about the hereditary ones we used for today's race, then only three," Merida replied.

Jack huffed angrily, knowing that Elsa was not lying, but he was not accepting that she didn't cheat. No way.

"Well then, Merida, off you go," Flynn grinned as Merida groaned loudly.

"No wait," Jack stopped her, creating three icicles with his initials carved in a secret spot before he gave them to Merida. "Take these."

"Glad to know you trust us," Merida rolled her eyes as she wrapped the ice in her fur cloak before she went to the mountains again.

A few minutes later, the green signal appeared again, and Flynn yelled at them to start.

 _I had been too confident last time and they used that to cheat me, but that won't happen now!_

With that thought in his head, Jack shot to the mountains faster than ever, having a little problem with the stop-and-turn-around part after reaching the mountain, before he grabbed the icicle and rushed to Flynn. On the way back, it was almost as if time had slowed down when he came face to face with Elsa, who easily dodged him and flew ahead on that ice-snowboard she had before.

It was almost like he was mesmerized as he turned around and watched her. His eyes widened when he saw her make a perfect turn, unlike him because he had stopped a little distance ahead of where he had actually wanted to stop -because of his momentum or inertia or whatever it's called- and it seemed like Elsa didn't have any problem with that. But in that very second, he saw Elsa fly past him and reach the finish line.

He just stood mid-air, frozen in shock at how she could've possibly outraced him. He shakily reached the ground, staring at her as she returned to the car. He spotted the icicle in Flynn's hand and even checked the secret initials just to convince himself that it really was his own icicle and that she had really won the race.

"What- was that?" He breathed out.

"Wait, don't tell me you want another race now," Flynn groaned.

"No!" Jack shook his head, disintegrating the icicles as he walked along with Flynn, and Merida who reached them at that moment, before gesturing to Elsa. "How- how is she that fast?"

"You call that fast?" Merida laughed, pretending to wipe a tear, "Jack, that's wasn't even _close_ to fast, at least for Elsa's level," she informed him.

"And you expect me to believe that?" Jack asked though a part of him was already ready to believe anything, after what he just saw.

"Yup. I couldn't say it before, but Elsa is the _hardest_ of the Hard mode. Seeing your speed and skills, you are probably the same as Merida; faster than Kris and me, slower than Elsa and hence, equal to Merida. I don't even know why Manny made her race with you. Its been a long time since she raced and-" Merida slapped her hand on Flynn's mouth, glaring at him before she hissed.

"Let's not go around spilling all of Elsa's secrets. You don't want to be frozen to death, do you?" She asked pointedly. Flynn's eyes widened in fear as he shook his head furiously.

"Elsa's secrets?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Um, she will probably tell it to you herself if you manage to earn her trust before you leave," Merida grinned sheepishly. She had the 'please understand my situation' kind of look in her eyes, and Jack nodded reluctantly.

"But you can't exactly tell that she wasn't trying at all. She had to be using at least 50% of her speed," he pointed out.

"To be honest, Elsa's a lot rustier than she was before. So, she probably used only 25% of her speed, but definitely not 50%. That's a bit too much" Flynn thought out loud.

"Seriously? And you call her rusty?!" Jack exclaimed, still not able to accept all of it.

"Yup, she was a lot smoother and faster back when-"

"Are you guys coming any time sooner?" Mr Moon yelled from where he stood next to his car.

The three of them jogged over to where their vehicles were parked. Merida mounted her horse again, while Jack and Flynn got on the latter's motorbike. Elsa was already seated in the driver's seat as Manny got in the car before all of them headed back to the rink.

"So, last question. Does Elsa have another power, like Speed powers, or something?" Jack asked, taking off the helmet to let the air rush through his silvery locks of hair.

"Nope," Flynn yelled.

"Then how does she manage to fly that fast?!" He exclaimed.

"Seriously, I have no idea!" Flynn yelled back.

Jack rolled his eyes, knowing he won't be getting any answers from the brunette.

"Well, seems like Elsa's getting another lecture," Flynn commented.

That was when Jack glanced at the car next to them, in which Elsa was driving as she bit her lip while Manny seemed to be scolding her. Jack's eyes popped wide when he spotted tears in her eyes but she just blinked them away.

 _What the actual heck..._

...

"Wait, Manny made Elsa race?" Rapunzel asked.

All of them were currently sitting at a table as they had dinner when Flynn explained the events of the day.

As an answer to his wife's question, Flynn nodded as he munched on his supper. Her eyes widening in shock and anger, Anna slammed her hands on the table, unintentionally breaking in, and stood up, startling Kristoff, Rapunzel, Merida, Flynn and Jack who sat with her.

"What?!" She exclaimed, glaring intensely at the brunette. "He made her _race?!"_

"Yes, Ma'am!" Flynn nodded, eyes wide with fear.

Anna just glared at him for a few minutes, before she sat down again. "This is not good, this is not good, this is _so not good!_ The heck was that old man thinking?!"

"Honey, what's wro-"

"I need to go!" She announced abruptly and ran off somewhere before any of them could even blink.

"Wha- hey, wait!" Kristoff yelled before he followed her. He stopped a few steps away and turned around to the others. "Don't worry about us. Continue with dinner and just check whether the shops are closed. Flynn, do me a favour and make sure Sven is in the shed," and he ran off.

"Um, what the heck just happened?" Jack asked after a long moment of silence.

"We'll probably know by tomorrow. Well, let's clean up and go to bed fast," Rapunzel muttered before she collected everyone's plates and took them over to the counter.

"Let's get going Jack," Flynn nudged him as the two got up and stepped out of the supper hall, and Flynn stopped and turned to Jack once they were outside. "As you heard the guy, I have some business to do. How about you go back to your room?"

"Yeah, sure," Jack rolled his eyes as he turned around.

"Don't try to escape again, Frost. You know its pointless and you better stay true to your word," Flynn snickered. Jack turned to him and continued walking backwards, glaring at the brunette as he flipped him off before he turned back and headed to where his room was situated.

On the way, he passed Elsa's house and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he heard loud voices coming from inside. He looked around at his surroundings and once he was sure that no one was looking, he slowly crept towards the blue house and spotted a window on the side of the building, below which he stood to eavesdrop.

Though he was right below it, the window was a little high and Jack could only hear voices, though not what they were speaking. Conjuring a messed-up box using his ice powers, he stood on it so that his head was right next to the window, and he mentally patted himself on the back when he was able to recognise the voices.

"You know exactly why Elsa stopped racing and yet you forced her to race today!" A female voice, which he recognised to be Anna's, yelled.

"Anna, honey, I don't know why you're making this matter into such a big deal. She raced today and put herself to _some_ use by winning it." A male voice, Manny's, said calmly, though Jack could hear the faint anger behind his words.

 _That was pretty rude..._ Jack thought to himself.

" _'Some use'_? Oh _hell_ no! If there's _anyone_ who's working non-stop around here, its Elsa! God damn it, she has done more work than you have as you are too busy travelling in and out of town literally all the time! And the only reason all of us are able to live comfortably even though there haven't been customers for months, is because of Elsa's hard work! So don't you dare accuse her of anything!" Anna argued.

 _You go, girl!_ Jack cheered for her internally.

"Anna, please calm down," Kristoff said softly.

Jack took a small peek inside and saw the dirty blonde trying to hold his girlfriend back, who looked ready to pounce on Manny any minute. Manny was seated on the couch as he stared at the strawberry-blonde, whereas Elsa sat near the opposite window, her back turned towards them.

"Calm down? Of course, I'll calm down! I'll calm down when Manny realizes just how much of an idiot he is!" She yelled at Kristoff before turning to Manny again. "Elsa has had way too much to go through already and doesn't deserve his hatred for something that happened years ago!"

 _Damn, remind me never to get on her bad side..._ Jack said to himself as he watched just how furious she was.

"Anna, please, just head back to your room. This conversation is going nowhere," Manny stated as he stood.

"Now listen to me, old man-"

"Anna, that's enough," Elsa said as she stood up and walked over to the stairs which probably led to her room.

"But Elsa-"

"Please Anna," Elsa pleaded and Jack noticed the tears in her eyes again.

Anna stayed quiet as she stared at her sister before she looked down at the floor and nodded reluctantly. Manny walked out of the house and Anna ran to Elsa and hugged her tightly.

"I hate him," she muttered.

"Please don't say such ridiculous things. He's our godfather, Anna," Elsa said, forcing her lips to smile.

 _Who knew Snowflake could fake a smile so well?_ Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Him being our godfather was Dad's decision, not ours. 'Cause if it had been our choice, I would've rather stayed in the mountains than live with him," Anna grumbled.

"Anna, he loves you," Elsa pointed out and didn't even bother hiding the pain in her eyes.

"But not you, and hence he's the villain," Anna pointed out.

Elsa smiled again, but the tears she had been holding back slipped down as she hugged Anna back tightly. Without any hesitation, Kristoff stepped forward and wrapped his arms around both of them.

 _He really is insane..._ Jack said to himself as Manny's face flashed before his eyes. His heart melted a bit when he saw the hug, feeling sadness and guilt wash over him as his mind reminded him that he wasn't close with his family unlike them.

Soon enough, they pulled back and after assuring Elsa a hundred times more, Anna and Kristoff left the house before Elsa locked the door and went upstairs. Jack decided to return as well but then he stopped when he saw the shadow of someone on the roof of Elsa's house.

Curiosity struck him again and looking around at the various window-ledges along the sides of the buildings, Jack summoned his wind powers as much as he could without his staff and successfully reached the roof.

She sat silently for a few minutes as more tears slid down her cheeks. She had her back turned towards him as she stared at the moon and cried silently. Telling himself that this was probably a good time to reveal himself, Jack silently walked over and sat next to her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him bluntly.

"Well, a little birdie told me that you were here so I came here to pick a fight," he joked, trying to lighten up her mood.

 _Seriously, my head is so freakin messed up. I don't even know why I'm here to console_ _ **her**_ _out of everyone!_

"Go away," Elsa muttered as she pulled her knees up and hugged them close to her chest.

"Nope, I can see that you really need some human company right now," Jack commented.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you, Frost," Elsa hissed.

"Then don't. Just let me sit here with you," Jack shrugged.

Seeing that it was pointless arguing with him, Elsa stayed silent as she continued staring at the Moon.

"So..." Jack trailed off, uncertain whether he should tell her the truth, before deciding to take the risk. "I guess you had a fight with Manny?"

"What?!" Elsa hissed, turning to him and glaring at him. "Were you eavesdropping on us?!"

"No! I just- saw Manny storm out of your house looking pissed, and saw Anna, Kris and you hugging and then you were sitting here while crying so I just assumed-" He rambled before he winced at Elsa's soul-piercing glare as she knew he was lying. "Well- uh- I- Okay, fine. Yes, I was." He admitted.

"Why did you?"

"Um- you looked really upset today morning during and after the race and I heard voices from your house so..." Jack trailed off.

 _Wow, smooth move Frost. Very smooth._ His mind stated sarcastically and Jack internally groaned at how awkward and creepy he was being.

"Go away."

"What?" Jack blinked.

"Just go away! I don't want anyone's pity and especially not yours!" Elsa yelled, her eyes wide with anger though they were still full of tears.

"I wasn't pityin-"

"Just go!"

His cocky attitude kicked in and Jack got up, angry that she had chased him away so rudely when he had just tried to help her. He left her and jumped over the building to reach his room while still bristling. He flopped down on the bed, rubbing his forehead to calm down.

 _And that's what I get for trying to be nice..._

...

"Ugh!" Jack yelled in frustration as he slipped from his staff and fell down for the hundredth time in that hour.

Since the water was still freezing in the rink, Jack had asked Flynn return his staff and to take him to the mountain region where he had raced the previous day. Remembering how Elsa had smoothly turned around, he tried his best to copy the action and to improve his racing. And for his own safety, he covered the ground with snow so that the falls weren't too dangerous. And every time he tried to turn around he just flew backwards due to his speed and ended up with the same result every time: Failure.

"How did she do that?!" He yelled as he dug himself out of the snow.

"Who knows?" Flynn replied, drawing something on the snow using a stick while his palm was pressed against his cheek in boredom. He was seriously surprised that Jack hadn't broken his bones after the number of times he had fallen but the racer refused to even take a break as he continued to try out the method.

"Hey, Frost, you should really stop now. It's already five in the evening! Come on man, I'm freezing here!" He yelled.

"Fine. But I'm not giving up. There's no way she could've just outraced me so easily!" Jack huffed as he walked over to Flynn before snapping his fingers, effectively wiping off all the snow from the ground. The temperature slowly increased and the sky turned orangish as Jack and Flynn got on the motorbike again.

"Why do you wanna learn it so badly?!" Flynn asked.

"Because I have the Finals coming up, and before leaving I wanted to beat Elsa using her own method," Jack admitted.

"Good luck with that," Flynn rolled his eyes, his voice laced with sarcasm.

They reached the rink soon enough and made their way to the lunch hall when Flynn gasped suddenly.

"Shit, I completely forgot to hide Punzie's plate which I broke! I'll be right back!" He yelled before he ran off towards his house.

Jack just chuckled as he walked ahead and bumped into Merida's mom, who looked relieved to see him.

"Ah, Mr Frost, can you do me a favour and give this to Elsa?" She asked sweetly as she held out an envelope. Jack just stared at it uncertainly, before he reluctantly nodded.

"Yeah sure," he muttered, taking the paper in his hands.

"Thanks a lot!" Merida's mom smiled before she groaned and chased after her sons who were causing trouble again.

Jack just stared at the envelope in his hand, before he sighed and trudged to Elsa's house. He knocked and waited for a few minutes, but no one answered. He tried opening the door and to his surprise, it opened. He stepped inside and looked around in search of the platinum-blonde.

"Elsa?" He called out as he randomly opened a door in the corner of the room, and his eyebrows shot up in curiosity when he saw stairs leading downstairs.

 _Who knew Snowflake had a basement?_

A normal person would've just closed the door, but he wasn't exactly normal so he went down the stairs, hoping to find some secrets about her.

The basement was naturally dark due to lack of light, and Jack used his staff's faint glow to spot the light switch. He switched on the lights and his eyes widened in shock.

There were really huge and terrifying icicles all around the room and the floor was covered in ice. Furniture was blasted to bits and some were still stuck between the icicles and basically, the basement was a huge mess and looked almost like a villain's lair.

Jack's eyes narrowed when he saw something shine in between all of this, and he slowly and cautiously approached. The thing shined like how gold would under really bright light. His eyebrows dipped in confusion when he saw something in the shape of a trophy with something written on it, and Jack's hands shook as he took it in his hands and wiped the frost off the writing. He gasped out loud and almost dropped his staff in shock when he read what was written.

Because resting in his hands was a Tachyons Cup.

 _A freakin_ _ **Tachyons Cup.**_

His shocked gaze looked ahead and he almost fainted when he saw _two_ more Tachyons cups surrounded by many more cups of the Regionals, the quarterfinals and the semifinals. There were a lot more small awards, like the ones won at schools and colleges, and telling that Jack was shocked and surprised was an understatement.

"Who even won these?" He whispered to himself before he kneeled down, placed his staff on the ground and picked up a framed certificate of the Tachyons Cup.

 _We, the President and hosts of the legendary Race of Rapidity, announce Elsa Winters as the winner of the Tachyons Cup and..._

Jack read it three to four more times, just to make sure he hadn't read it wrong.

 _Elsa Winters as the winner of the Tachyons Cup..._

 _Elsa Winters..._

 _Elsa..._

"No freakin way..." He whispered to himself in shock. He found a few more shattered framed certificates, and all of them were for the same person:

Elsa Winters.

He looked around once again and picked up a frame that looked like it contained a newspaper article, and rubbed the frost off the glass using the sleeve of his black leather jacket. His eyes squinted in concentration when he saw a picture of a teenage girl on the ground in a very painful position. She was bleeding in different places and her platinum-blonde hair was covered in blood and sweat as she laid there and cried in pain.

Jack rubbed the glass again and read the heading of the article, which went like: _"Winner of the Tachyons Cup for three consecutive years FAILS at winning for the fourth time!"_ The rest of the article was blurry to read and Jack decided not to read the rest, and just stared at the pictures. After a few paragraphs, there was a picture of the same girl wearing a number of medals as she held the Tachyons cup, her whole face was lit up with happiness. And Jack recognised the girl to be Elsa, just a lot younger.

"What are you doing here?"

Jumping in fear at hearing a voice all of a sudden, Jack almost dropped the cup and the frame, before he turned around and saw Elsa standing behind him.

"You- these-" He stuttered, standing up to look her in the eye. "Y-You won these?"

"No, I didn't. I saw a person selling fake cups and decided to get a few for myself," Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Elsa this is serious!" Jack insisted. "You have a Tachyons Cup. A freakin Tachyons Cup! Do you even know how many people, including me, would do anything to win this?!"

"Nope," Elsa replied.

"Elsa-"

"Frost, you weren't even supposed to come here, in the first place. So I would appreciate if you leave, now" Elsa said, looking at the floor.

"But-"

"Please." She cut in, her voice sounding a lot more different than the last time she asked him to leave.

Jack wanted to stay and ask how she managed to win three cups, how she got wounded so badly and why the cups were thrown in the dump. But he could see that she didn't want to talk about it. He sighed, bent and placed the cup and the frame on the ground before he picked up his staff and the envelope.

"Merida's mother wanted me to give this to you," he muttered before he brushed past her and left her house.

 _I am not leaving this place before getting all the answers..._ He told to himself before he stuffed his hands in his pockets and entered the lunch hall with Flynn, who rambled about having to listen to a long lecture from Rapunzel for breaking her plate.

 _Elsa, just who the hell are you..._


	8. Chapter 8

"Dude, still how much longer are you gonna 'practice'?" Kristoff groaned, emphasizing the word 'practice'.

"Just a few more hours!" Jack yelled before he shot into the sky again.

"You've been saying that for the whole day from six in the morning! It's already eight in the evening for God's sake! Come on, let's leave!" Kristoff yelled back.

Jack huffed in anger and frustration at himself, failing yet again to make the perfect turn. He came down and cleared the ground which was covered with snow, before turning to Kristoff, who had already started the motorbike.

 _This is a perfect chance for me to escape... Elsa and Flynn as not here which means I really can escape..._

 _But..._

The argument between Anna and Manny, the sight of Elsa's basement and surprisingly Elsa's smiling face before her sad and disturbed expression flashed before his eyes.

 _Let's delay that for a while..._

"I still don't know why you were forced to come with me today," Jack stated.

"Well, Flynn had to put up with you all these days and he wanted a day off so Elsa asked me to escort you for today," Kristoff shrugged.

The rest of the ride was silent and they reached the rink soon enough. Kristoff told Jack to go ahead and sit with the others and Jack nodded before he made his way to the supper hall.

"Jack," Elsa called out just before he could enter. Jack stopped, turned around and saw her walking towards him with her head bent. Memories of the previous day rushed into his brain, but he forced himself to concentrate.

"Yes, Snowflake?" He asked.

Elsa stopped in front of him, a look of uncertainty on her face before she sighed and finally looked up at him. "Can I talk to you?"

"Um, sure?" He replied, confused at why she wanted to talk to him all of a sudden.

"Uh, I need to talk to you _alone."_ She specified.

Jack just raised an eyebrow, before he followed Elsa to her house. She signalled him to sit down and he flopped himself on the couch as he looked around at all the pictures on the walls.

Elsa stood against a table in the corner, her arms crossed as she stared at the floor. They stayed like that for a few seconds before Jack cleared his throat.

"So...what's up?" He asked awkwardly.

"I just... wanted to apologize," Elsa admitted.

"Eh?" Jack blinked, genuinely confused and surprised.

"The other day- after the race when Manny and Anna had a fight, remember we were on the roof? You tried to help me- but I just yelled at you," She explained guiltily, "So I just wanted you to know that I'm truly sorry for my behaviour that night. It was- it was really _really_ rude of me and you didn't deserve that just because you were being nice enough to support me."

Jack just blinked in shock, unable to believe that she was actually _apologizing._ Sure, he had been mad at her for the rest of the night but he forgot about it later on. And she was being polite and apologizing just because he had invaded her privacy for which she had yelled at him. Goodness, if he had to say sorry to people for being rude, he had a whole country's worth population to apologize to.

Mistaking his silence for anger, Elsa glanced up at him. "I'm sorry Jack, I really _really_ am. If there's any way I can make up to you, I promise I'll do it; please tell me," she requested, her eyes filled with sincerity, regret and a hint of desperation.

Jack was about to assure her that he forgave her, but then her last lines caught his attention.

"Well..." He trailed off, trying to hide his smirk. "You could just let me return back home tonight" he pointed out.

Elsa's eyes widened and she looked down as she seemed to think it over. She stood like that for about three minutes before she looked up at him.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Wait, seriously?" Jack asked, his eyebrows shooting upwards as his eyes widened. "You can do that?"

Elsa didn't reply, but then she forced a smile on her face, which Jack quickly noticed was fake. "I promised, didn't I?" And with that, she turned around and walked out of the house.

Jack just stared at her, before he got up and did a happy dance around the room.

 _Wait._

He paused, remembering just _why_ he hadn't left when he'd had the chance.

 _It's okay, I can just come back_ _ **after**_ _winning the Tachyons Cup and investigate to my heart's content._

And with that, he quickly lifted his staff and headed back to the supper hall, a content and self-satisfied smirk on his face.

"What are you so happy about?" Kristoff raised an eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't I be? I am leaving this place right now, after all," he stated, sitting down next to Flynn. He looked around the table and saw only Kristoff, Flynn, Merida and Rapunzel sitting, meaning Anna wasn't there.

"Um, didn't you lose the race?" Merida asked.

"Yes. But then Elsa told she would do anything to receive my forgiveness for shouting at me the other day, so I told her I want to leave. She seemed hesitant, but she nodded and went away, promising that I will be able to leave tonight." He informed with a smug look on his face.

He knew they'd have different reactions but did _not_ expect everyone's eyes to widen in shock and fear.

"Dude, you do know that you've basically doomed Elsa, right?" Kristoff asked.

"Huh?" Jack tilted his head in confusion.

"Jack, Elsa doesn't have the authority around here as long as Manny is present. Which means currently, every decision she makes will go through Manny before getting accepted or declined." Rapunzel explained.

"Elsa was the one who made you stay here, and if she goes and talks to Manny about releasing you after letting you stay here for weeks and even racing you, well, Manny wouldn't be happy." Merida pointed out.

"And trust us when we tell you that when Manny and Elsa fight, its never _ever_ good," Flynn stated.

Jack's eyes widened in horror when he realised that he has basically asked Elsa to dig up her own grave and die, he forced himself to calm down before he laughed nervously. "It- it can't be _that_ bad... right?"

"Bro, a few years ago Elsa bought a machine for the rink, and when she decided to return it back when she wasn't satisfied, Manny threw a fit and gave her the cold shoulder for about two years. He would scold and insult her every single day due to which Elsa's cold demeanour turned even more isolated." Flynn informed.

Trying to take in all the information, Jack's eyes widened yet again as he sat, frozen in his spot.

"Hey guys," Anna greeted as she sat down next to her boyfriend.

"Anna, did you see Elsa anywhere? She still didn't have her supper," Punzie stated, glancing around in concern.

"She was with me the whole time. But then she suddenly disappeared and appeared out of nowhere, telling me to go ahead and have dinner before she went to Manny," Anna informed.

"Shit!" Jack hissed before he flew out of the hall. He stopped at the entrance and searched for the platinum-blonde, and his heart jumped in urgency and fear when he saw Elsa almost reaching Manny. Thankfully, the man had his back turned to her and had not seen her.

Jack flew as fast as possible, scooping her in his arms on the way and not stopping even for a second. Elsa almost screamed when she was suddenly swept off her feet before wrapped her arms around his neck and clung onto him for dear life.

Jack flew into a small gap between two of the buildings surrounding the rink before he placed Elsa down. She stumbled for a few seconds before she stood straighter and smacked him on his head.

"Ow, what was that for?!" Jack whined as he rubbed his head.

"That's what I should be asking _you_ , Frost," Elsa hissed. "Why the heck did you bring me here? I was going to ask Manny to release you."

"Exactly why I stopped you and brought you here," Jack admitted, his hand rising to rub the nape of his neck. "Let's just say that I had a change of mind about what I wanted you to do."

"Seriously?" Elsa asked, but Jack saw how relieved she was. "Well, what caused the almighty Jack Frost to have a change of mind?"

 _Honestly, I have no idea._

"Who knows," he shrugged, peering at her through his eyelashes, "Probably your beauty made me reconsider about leaving."

"Yeah, and I completely believe that," Elsa rolled her eyes though Jack smirked to himself when he saw the slight blush on her face. "So what exactly do you want me to do?"

"Go on a date with me."

"What?" Elsa blinked, wondering if she heard him right. She turned beet red when Jack leaned forward and tightened his grasp around her, pinning her to the wall as she realised that they had forgotten to let go of each other after he had placed her down.

"I want you to go on a date with me. Not just roaming around this rink but somewhere like the waterfalls or the snow-covered mountains- I don't know, you are the one who's lived here your entire life. So, what do you say?" He asked.

"I... don't think its a good idea..." She trailed away, looking to the side.

"I thought a Snowflake always keeps its promises," Jack insisted, pressing even closer to her and placing his forehead against hers so that she has no choice but to look at him in the eye.

"I'm not a snowflake," she muttered under her breath, turning her gaze to stare at his hoodie instead. "And I think you should let me go right now."

"Not until I get a reply," he whispered huskily, which sent shivers to run up and down her spine.

"F-fine, I'll go," Elsa muttered.

"Where?"

"On a date."

"Tell the whole thing, Snowflake."

"I'll go on a date with you, Frost," she hissed, not liking how a part of her was actually liking everything that was going on.

"Excellent. But there is a rule though," Jack informed.

"What now?" Elsa asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm gonna be asking questions about everything I wanna know, and you're gonna answer completely honestly. Don't try to lie to me because I know when a person is lying," Jack stated.

Elsa stayed silent for some time before she reluctantly nodded, her head barely moving all thanks to his face which was literally right in front of hers.

Jack internally cheered, knowing for sure that he'll know whatever he wants to know by tomorrow night. But for some reason, his arms were getting used to being around her so instead of letting go like how he had told her, Jack continued to hold her against the wall, appreciating the rare and close view of her face.

But after some time, Elsa raised her gaze a bit to look at him in confusion at why he still didn't let her go, and the two of them ended up staring at each other's eyes. They stayed that way for almost five minutes, before Jack's gaze fell to her red lipstick coated lips, and he bit his own as he felt his teenage hormones kick in, though he was already an adult. He wanted to just lean down a bit and press his lips against hers, but a part of his brain kept telling him not to do so.

But soon enough, he slowly started leaning down, his eyes half-lidded in desire. His lips were just a few millimetres away from hers when-

"Elsaaaaaaaa! Jaaaaaaaack! Where are you guys?!" Flynn yelled, his voice echoing everywhere.

Sudden strength surged through her hands and Elsa pushed Jack away, her eyes wide and her face red when she realised what they almost did. She shook her head before crossing her arms and turning away from the racer.

"Go around the building and meet with Flynn to avoid any suspicions as to why we both were coming together," she muttered before she stepped out of the tiny alley. Jack just blinked at her retreating form before reality him in the face, making him quickly turn in the opposite direction as he flew around the building.

 _What the heck did I almost do..._

...

"Stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it, just stop already!" Jack yelled at himself, his voice muffled by the pillow pressed against his face.

It was night time already, and Jack had headed back to his room after having his supper. Elsa and he completely avoided each other's eyes, at least until Jack awkwardly reminded her to be up early before he ran off. The others kept shooting confused glances at them, and Anna had almost ripped his limbs apart when the others told her about Jack asking Elsa to let him leave.

And currently, as Jack twisted and turned in his bed, his mind refused to shut down and kept playing the almost kiss right before his eyes. He tried everything; changing his position, hitting his head, yelling at himself, pleading to himself, but the flashback kept playing.

He finally gave up after going through torture for a whole hour, and let himself think about the specific event. About how comfortable he felt holding her in his arms, how cutely she had blushed when she realised their position, how he had pinned her to the wall and how he had let his weird feelings take over him.

He blushed and groaned yet again when he felt himself _wanting_ to know how it felt kissing someone since he had never kissed a person, except for the loving cheek and forehead kisses for his younger sister, Emma, back when they were young.

Knowing that he won't be sleeping anytime soon, Jack got up, snatched his staff and flew out of the window to get some air and clear his head. He was about to sit on the roof but noticed a particular platinum-blonde who was sitting on the roof of her house, staring at the sky with her back turned to him.

Contemplating whether he should go to her or not, Jack cursed at himself before choosing the former. He flew over silently, only announcing his appearance by clearing his throat when he sat next to her, startling the hell out of her.

"W-what are you doing here?" She asked, trying her best not to blush.

"I could ask you the same question," Jack shot back, sitting so close to her that their shoulders were almost touching.

"This is my home, idiot," she rolled her eyes.

"Okay, lemme rephrase my question: Why are you sitting on your roof at this time in the night?" He corrected himself.

"Couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"Same reason. Just had too much on my mind," he shrugged, looking up and joining her in staring at the stars. "So, did you decide where we could go for our date?"

"Oh! Um-" she stammered, turning pink which made Jack smirk, "T-there's a really awesome waterfall nearby, and the view is great too so I thought that maybe we could go there?" She informed, her suggestion sounding more like a question.

"Sounds great," Jack nodded before they were enveloped in silence again.

"Hey, Jack?" Elsa called out, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Snowflake?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"Stop being a smartass and just answer the damned question." Elsa snapped. Jack just laughed before he turned to her.

"Geez, fine. Go ahead"

"Okay," Elsa nodded to herself, sighing before she looked at him again. "I'm getting a feeling that you asked me to go on a date just so that you'll have a chance to ask me about the trophies in the basement; is that right?"

Jack just stared at her, his gaze mixed with horror, surprise, and admiration at the same time. "W-what are you talking about? Of course no-"

"Don't lie" Elsa deadpanned.

Jack just stared at her for a few seconds before he groaned.

"Yes, it's true," he admitted.

"If that's the case..." Elsa trailed away, "I know you don't wanna be confused so I would probably tell you the whole tale. But I feel like that's asking for too much. So to even things out, will you share your story of why you want to win the Tachyons Cup so badly?"

Jack froze, staying quiet as he thought about it. A part of his mind kept telling him to refuse and cancel the date, but he had long since ditched paying any attention to it, rather listening to the logical side which told him that she was right: if he wanted to know about her biggest secret, he might as well tell her his.

"Fine," he nodded reluctantly, still not sure whether this was a good idea.

"Thank you," Elsa gave a small smile and Jack returned it with an awkward smile of his own.

He wanted to look away, but the moonlight reflecting in her eyes just held him captive. And her adorable smile wasn't helping either. They continued staring and just like before, Jack felt the desire wash over him as his gaze kept flickering to her lips. And finally, no longer able to hold back anymore, he slowly leaned in, a small part of him noticing how she was leaning in as well.

They were sitting shoulder to shoulder already, which just reduced the space between their faces. And just before their lips could touch, Jack's phone rung loudly and both of them pulled back, Elsa quickly turning away to hide her blush as Jack's mind yelled loudly in frustration when he saw that Flynn was calling him.

"Hello?" He hissed as he turned away from Elsa.

" _Yo Frost, where are you? My insides keep squirming, meaning that my powers are telling me that you are not in your room, but not away from the rink either. So where the heck are you?_ " Flynn yelled.

"I couldn't sleep so I came to the roof for some fresh air. Is there a problem with that?" Jack rolled his eyes as he got up and walked a few steps away from Elsa.

" _Um, no. But are you with someone else or something? Because my senses are telling me that you're definitely not sitting on the roof of the building where you stay at, you're blushing -kinda?- and your heart is racing faster than_ _ **you**_ _ever have and-_ "

"Okay, it was nice talking to you. I'll head to my room right away so that your senses stop disturbing you and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye." He cut him off and hung up. Jack let out a sigh before turning to Elsa, who was standing with her arms crossed.

"So I guess I'll head back to my room now-" Jack started.

"Yeah, sure, goodnight. See you tomorrow-"

"Yeah, see you too-"

"Don't forget to pack a set of clothes just in case-"

"Got it. I'll meet you after breakfast tomorrow-"

"Great!-"

"Bye!" Both of them exclaimed at the same time before Elsa quickly hurried downstairs while Jack quickly flew over to his room.

"Damn, what the heck is happening to me?" Jack cursed at himself, dropping his staff and flopping down on the bed as exhaustion took over him and the world turned black.


	9. Chapter 9

_Okay, let's calm down. This is not exactly a 'date' date, just a meeting where I will be asking Elsa about everything I wanna know about. Yeah, that's it._

 _And I'm completely gonna forget about what we almost did yesterday. Not that it meant anything to me- did it mean anything to me? I mean_ -

"What the heck are you doing out here so early in the morning?!"

Jack jumped, startled by Flynn's sudden appearance, before he leaned against the supper hall's door again.

"I'm heading out," Jack answered. "Oh, and I'll be borrowing your motorbike for today."

"Wait, seriously?" Flynn raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't informed about this. Are you going with Kris again? Because Elsa really didn't tell me."

The brunette eyed his clothes, and Jack merely raised an eyebrow as he checked himself. He was wearing skin-tight black knee-ripped jeans, a black T-shirt, his usual black leather jacket and black boots. His silver hair was messed up in its own unique way, his duffel bag was on the ground next to him and his black steel staff was right next to it.

"Well..." Jack trailed off.

"That's because I'm going with him myself," a familiar voice interrupted them and Jack felt his heart skip a beat as Elsa calmly walked over. Memories of the previous day rushed to his head but Jack forced himself to concentrate.

He noticed a change in her clothes, and raised an eyebrow appreciatively as he checked her out. She had swapped her usual maxi-skirt and long sleeved tops for something more different, which consisted of black jeans, a plain white T-shirt, a blue jacket, a baby-blue scarf loosely wrapped around her neck, and black boots. Her hair was in its usual bun and her right hand was holding on to a blue shoulder bag.

"Wait, what?!" Flynn blinked in utter confusion, taking his seat next to Punzie as the three of them reached their table, where the others were already seated.

"That's right," Elsa nodded professionally. "Frost here asked me if he could visit any higher places for practice and that he was sick of being only in the rink and the mountain grounds where we raced, and I know that both Kris and you have business to attend to so I told him I'll be accompanying him for the day."

"Seriously?" Everyone blinked in shock, before they quickly turned to Jack, who was surprised about her explanation, but nodded nonetheless.

"Huh, hard to believe Elsa _actually_ agreed to accompany you," Kristoff snickered.

"Unless you forced her to," Merida narrowed her eyes at Jack.

"You think she would even consider if I forced her?" Jack asked.

"Nope," Flynn piped in.

"Besides," Rapunzel drawled, her expression turning sly, "You both are gonna be spending time all alone."

"Oh yeah," Anna grinned before her expression changed drastically to a serious one as she turned to Jack, "Hurt my sister in any way, and I _will_ break you."

"Calm down," Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Other than that, enjoy your _date_ well," Anna teased.

Jack just sighed, determined to not let the previous night's events change his behaviour around her, especially after seeing how she acted so nonchalantly.

...

"So, shall we go?" Jack asked, getting up as everyone finished their breakfast.

"Of course," Elsa nodded, lifting her shoulder bag.

Jack collected his own bag and staff before he received Flynn's bike keys and turned to wave goodbye at the others.

"Take care, guys," Rapunzel smiled at them.

"Don't fall off a cliff and die Frost," Flynn grinned.

"Be careful Elsie, if he decides to become naughty, just break his jaw," Anna said, staring seriously at Elsa face.

"I intend to," Elsa smirked, eyeing said guy who backed away with his hands raised in surrender. "Let's go."

The two of them walked to the motorbike and Jack handed her a helmet before he turned to talk to her.

"Are you sure this is okay? I mean, what if Manny asks about you and gets to know that you're out with me? Wouldn't he- you know, get the wrong idea?" He asked her, holding his own helmet in his hands.

"Manny left to visit a nearby town last night," Elsa replied, her voice kind of muffled by the helmet, though Jack knew she was smirking.

"Okay then. Don't blame me if he comes after you for leaving the rink with me," Jack muttered, wearing his helmet before he got on the bike.

"You were the one who wanted me to take you somewhere, so technically it's still your fault," Elsa grinned.

"But you're the one guiding us to wherever we are going and I'm just gonna listen and drive so it's you who's taking me." Jack protested, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers.

"But you're the one riding the bike which means you're the one taking _me_ somewhere," Elsa argued back.

"Whatever, just get on already," Jack muttered. Elsa swung her leg over the seat and sat down comfortably, and Jack raised an eyebrow when she placed her hands on his shoulders. "You know you can just put your arms around my waist."

"I wouldn't even if I was falling to my death," Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Fine by me. But it wouldn't be my fault if you fall off the bike," Jack commented as he started the bike.

"Just get over it already," Elsa hissed and just like that, they set out.

Elsa calmly guided him through the woods, and Jack tried his best to memorize the way as they reached the main road. She gave him directions and hit his back or arm when he messed up. Jack didn't stop protesting but listened to her nonetheless.

And since they were wearing helmets, Jack couldn't hear her properly so she had to lean her head close to his ear. So basically, she was pressed against him and a part of his brain kept pointing this out, and Jack kept ignoring it as he drove diligently.

And soon enough, they reached a road which led into the forest on the other side of the road, and Elsa told him to go that way and they stopped when they reached a board which read, 'Welcome to the Winter Falls'.

"The what now?" Jack raised an eyebrow as Elsa got off the bike.

"Park the bike somewhere and take your bag. We'll be walking from here onwards, its just a short distance," Elsa said, removing her helmet and fixing her hair.

"Um, sure," Jack muttered before he parked the bike between the trees and bushes and hid both their helmets in the trunk of a nearby hollow tree, before he grabbed his bag and walked over to her. "So the waterfall we're heading to is called the Winter Falls?"

"Yes, but to be honest, I wouldn't even call it a waterfall. It's just a medium-sized stream flowing through a mountain and falling down on some rocks and continuing on. But there is a pond right below it and the whole area is surrounded by rocks so its really beautiful," Elsa smiled.

"How do you even know about this place?" Jack asked, walking alongside her through the woods and he heard the water falling in the distance.

"It used to be a really well-known tourist spot back when my parents were teenagers, but over the years people stopped coming here. But my father loved this place too much so we kept visiting on a regular basis, and soon enough the people who were running this place also left, leaving it open for all. So, here we are," Elsa explained.

"I... was also wondering," Jack started, hesitant whether he should proceed with what he wanted to ask, "is it just me- or are the customers at the rink kinda very less? Because from when I arrived, you haven't exactly had even a single customer so..." He trailed off awkwardly.

Elsa stayed silent for some time, and Jack panicked for a second whether he angered her. "No, it's not just you," Elsa spoke, causing Jack to internally sigh in relief. "Since the rink is too far inside the forest, we have completely stopped receiving customers. The only reason we're able to live something close to a comfortable life is because Manny has plenty of other occupations, and he earns almost 60% of the money we use.

"And then there's Mr Dunbroch, Mr Corona and Kristoff, all of whom visit the nearby town for work. Kristoff leaves in the morning and comes back in the evening, but the other two men come by the rink thrice a week to visit us and their respective families. I guess that sums up about 30% of our income." Elsa explained.

"Um, I know you know that I was eavesdropping on Manny and Anna's fight the other day, and she mentioned that you are the reason everyone's able to live comfortably. What did she mean by that?" Jack asked.

"So you remembered huh?" Elsa looked down at the ground, never stopping their walk as she continued explaining, "That isn't exactly true. I work to keep us comfortable as well, but my work would be the remaining 10% of our income. It's not that big of a deal. I just work for my father's friend but I try my best to stay in the rink for as long as possible because when Manny is not present, the responsibility of the rink shifts to me."

"What kind of work do you do?" Jack questioned again.

"Nothing much. My dad's friend is the President of an association of a group of sports grounds and pieces of equipment, ranging from your normal roller skating rinks, playgrounds and ice rinks to official stadiums of massive games like soccer and cricket. I work under one of the different departments. I manage most of my work here in my house, but sometimes I would have to go to the next town for meetings and such. That's all," Elsa informed.

"Damn, that's a hell lot of work right there, is that all you do?" Jack asked.

"Yup, and other minor stuff like managing our bills, seeing after the water supply and all that is also my responsibility. So yeah, that's pretty much my life here in the rink," Elsa gave a sad smile.

 _I'm kinda having the feeling that she's hiding something..._ Jack thought to himself.

"Well, anyway we're here," Elsa said, gesturing to the scenery ahead.

Because of the serious conversation they were just having, Jack had almost forgotten about the waterfalls and just blinked at the scenery before him.

Being an international racer, he's been to many places and has seen many more beautiful places but those were all completely man-made. And standing here at the Winter Falls, Jack felt a smile creep onto his lips as he looked around and took in the beauty of nature.

Just like Elsa had mentioned, there was a clean pond surrounded by huge rocks, and a huge mountain was at its side. There was a cave sized hole in it and water poured out of it and joined the pond. Jack also noticed two small changing rooms at a side of the pond just behind the bushes from where they stood, and noticed the 'Male' and 'Female' boards on the doors respectively.

"This isn't exactly a river so where does the water go after falling here?" Jack asked, his curiosity starting to take over him.

"The pond is quite deep and there's a hole and an underground stream which connects this place to a river...which is somewhere I don't know," Elsa recalled.

"Something the great Elsa doesn't know? Jesus Christ, the world is gonna collapse!" Jack grinned.

"Knock it off," Elsa playfully glared at him, shoving him a bit before crossing her arms. "So what do you think we do now?"

"Huh?" Jack blinked.

"You wanted me to bring us here, dummy. So what do you wanna do now that we've reached our destination? We can go around the rocks, climb them and sit up there to talk about what you wanted to know," Elsa suggested.

"Pfft, where's the fun in that?" Jack snickered.

"Well, what else do you wanna do?" Elsa raised an eyebrow.

"Snowflake, we're at such a beautiful pond. It would be a waste if we didn't take a dip," he grinned.

"Nope," she flat out rejected. "Not doing it."

"Aw come on!" Jack started whining, dropping his bag on the ground before he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her. "Dont be such a killjoy."

"You can whine all you want but we aren't gonna go swimming," Elsa huffed.

"Snowflake, you owe me a favour." Jack pointed out. "Which means you have to listen to my requests."

"But I am fulfilling your favour by _being_ here in the first place!" Elsa argued.

"But- I even helped you with the pipes by flying you to the ceilings! So that's another favour!"

"I didn't even ask you for help! You just randomly grabbed me and flew me around!"

"But you can't deny the fact that I helped you!"

There was silence for a few seconds before Elsa finally groaned in defeat. "I'm only doing this because of that one reason," She grunted.

" _Po-tah-to, po-tah-to_ , just get changed already!" Jack pushed her to the female changing room before he closed the door.

He heard her mutter something under her breath but ignored it as he picked up his own bag and walked into the male changing room, and quickly changed into a simple black T-shirt and black knee-length shorts. In all honesty, he would've just jumped into the water wearing his shorts -since he didn't have his swimming trunks- but he knew Elsa might freak out if she saw him shirtless so he decided to throw on the T-shirt as well.

Jack placed his staff and duffel bag in the corner of the changing room and headed out. He looked around and noticed that Elsa wasn't out yet, before he walked over and sat on the edge of one of the lower rocks, dipping his feet in the water.

 _Aah, it's so cold..._

Jack leaned his head backward, enjoying the coldness in his feet as he closed his eyes in bliss. He perked up when he heard the door opening and turned around to see Elsa wearing a dark blue tank top and a pair of white shorts which ended right over her knees. She kept pulling her tank top down as she walked out, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"You look cute," Jack smirked slyly when he saw the light blush on her face.

"Shut up. Its been a while since I wore clothes like these," She muttered under her breath, sitting down next to him and plunging her feet into the water. And just like him, she instantly relaxed and slightly swayed her feet in the water.

"It feels so cold and _good!"_ Elsa grinned, leaning down and scooping some water in her hand.

"See? And you were so against swimming," Jack rolled his eyes.

"You said swimming, not relaxing on the rocks with our feet in the water," Elsa stated, pulling her legs out of the water as she stood up on the rock and walked around to stand behind him.

"So?" Jack raised an eyebrow, staring right ahead at the lake.

"So..." Elsa trailed off, bending and placing her hands on his shoulders and Jack went rigid when he felt her breath right by his ear. "I think it's only fair if you were the first to go down."

And with that, she pushed him into the water.

Jack spluttered as he came up, only to find Elsa laughing her head off. "You sly little fox," Jack smirked quickly raising himself out of the water.

Elsa turned to escape but Jack was already in front of her, sweeping her into his arms.

"I think it's fair if we both take a dip together," he grinned deviously before he jumped off from the rock. Elsa just screeched in surprise, catching her breath in as they went down the pond.

She quickly resurfaced and wiped the water on her eyes. "Couldn't you at least give me a warning before jumping into the water with me?"

"You didn't seem to have any problems when you pushed me in!" Jack accused.

"Whatever, your expression was worth it," Elsa smirked, before she scooped up some water and threw it at his face.

And just like that, they continued playing in the water like kindergarten kids, their nonsense of a banter never stopping throughout.

"Now you've done it!" Jack warned when Elsa pushed him backward. He took a deep breath before dipping into the pond and swam deeper, smirking to himself when he spotted her feet.

"What are you doing?" Elsa asked, looking around and searching for him. And before she knew it, something grabbed her leg and yanked her down. Elsa forgot to breathe and the water took no time to enter her mouth and nose.

She started choking, getting that worst feeling one gets when underwater. Strong arms grabbed her hips and brought her up, and Elsa choked and struggled to breathe once out of the water. She pushed him away from her and her temper increased even more when she heard laughter.

"Why you little-" Elsa started but she started choking again.

"Are you alright? I could always give you a CPR right now."

Elsa had her eyes closed, but she knew he was smirking.

"No thank you," Elsa grunted, finally getting over the chokes. "And wipe that smug look off your face. Seriously, all I did was push you back and the next thing I know is that I'm getting dragged into the water by a madman," she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I'm not a madman! And its called revenge," Jack stated.

"Whatever," She muttered under her breath.

Jack's eyes widened when she raised her hands to untie her bun, and he realised that her tank top was clinging to her body, not leaving much to the imagination.

 _Well, hello there..._

"Eyes up here, mister," Elsa warned, glaring at him as she finally left her hair free.

Jack looked up with a flushed expression, and it only grew worse when he saw her usual tight bun now left out free to cascade down her back. Her hand reached up and pushed her bangs back and Jack just continued staring, gulping for no reason.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Elsa asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Wha- no, no, nothing's on your face," Jack replied, shaking his head violently.

Elsa just stared at him in suspicion before she shrugged to herself. "Well, we better get dressed. It's already evening," and she quickly swam to the edge of the pond. She planted her hands on the rocks and dragged herself up, feeling the weight of her wet clothes.

Meanwhile Jack stayed right in his place, staring at her as she raised herself up, extra water escaping from her clothes and dripping down her body.

 _Damn..._

"Are you coming or what?!" Elsa called out.

Jack snapped out of his daze and quickly followed her, internally scolding himself for staring at her so shamelessly. He was unaware of the fact that her icy blue eyes were staring at him as he climbed up the rock, his own clothes clinging tightly to his body. Both of them entered their respective changing rooms.

Once outside wearing his previous outfit and feeling partially dry -his hair was still wet-, Jack looked around and was surprised when he found Elsa already waiting for him in her previous clothes, except her scarf was stuffed into shoulder bag.

"So, how about we eat something while sitting on the higher rocks? We didn't exactly have lunch," Elsa suggested.

"Sounds good," Jack commented and they gathered their bags.

Jack asked her where they were gonna be sitting, and Elsa pointed at the highest rock, telling him that the peak is actually flat and perfect to relax during the evening. She started explaining to him that they'll have to go around the pond and they would see the rocks aligned in a staircase kind of manner, and Jack just rolled his eyes before he grabbed her bridal-style and flew over to the top.

"You do know that I'm completely capable of walking up here, right?" Elsa asked as he set her down.

"Yup," he stated, not bothering to explain himself. Elsa just raised an eyebrow at him, before she sat down on the rocks.

"Let's eat," she announced, pulling out two Tupperware boxes from her shoulder bag. She gave him one before getting a water bottle out of her bag.

"Is that a bag or a four-dimensional pouch with infinite space in it?" Jack joked.

"Are you referring to Doraemon?" Elsa narrowed her eyes.

"Of course I am! That is one of the best anime for children!" Jack stated as he opened his box. His stomach whined for food when the smell of Rapunzel's signature pie reached his nose. He quickly dug in, not minding that he was eating in front of Elsa.

"You're not a child, Jack," Elsa pointed out, eating her own pie, but more gracefully than him.

"I _used_ to be a child, and Doraemon was always every child's dream. I mean, who wouldn't love to have a cat robot from the future as their friend, and have it help us with literally anything and everything with such cool gadgets?" Jack argued, finishing up one piece before he reached out for the second.

"Doraemon literally shows how a boy is getting bullied, has a crush on one of his classmates, and how helpless he gets when his cat friend isn't around to help him. Moreover-"

"Do NOT insult the great series! Doraemon is an anime that shows the true meaning of science and friendship," Jack cut in. "And besides, I didn't know you watched any anime."

"Anna and Rapunzel might have made me watch a few," Elsa shrugged.

"Like?" Jack asked.

"Hm, I don't exactly remember but I think its name was Attack on Titan or somethi-"

"Hold up right there!" Jack held a hand up, effectively silencing her. "You watched _Attack On Titan_ and you're telling me you don't remember it well?! Disgrace on you, disgrace on your cow!" Jack huffed.

"Well, excuse me," Elsa huffed, "besides, I don't even have a cow!"

"Yeah, yeah, let the excuses keep coming," Jack rolled his eyes.

"It's not my fault you happen to be such a big anime fan," Elsa crossed her arms.

"It called an _Otaku,_ honey," Jack corrected.

"That's actually supposed to be an insult in Japanese," Elsa pointed out.

"Otaku means someone who's obsessed with computers and stuff and is basically a nerd. But it is also refers to big fans of the anime and manga fandom," Jack stated like a huge scholar.

"I'm surprised you even know about it," Elsa smirked to herself, closing her now-empty box and shoved it inside her bag.

Jack gave her his as well, and the two just turned towards the pond and sat in silence.

"You were right, this place is awesome to just relax in the evening," Jack smiled, feeling the cold evening breeze brush past his face.

"This was always my favourite part when we used to come for picnics. We would just sit here and relax, and Anna would sometimes fall asleep in my dad's arms," Elsa smiled to herself, bringing her knees up and hugging them before she rested her chin on her knees.

"So I guess this is a good time to start with the stories," Jack suggested.

Elsa stayed quiet for some time before she slowly nodded.

"Here we go."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: REALLLY long explanations coming up!**

"Okay, so what exactly did you wanna know?" Elsa said to herself.

"How did you win so many of those Tachyons Cups, when did you win those, and why they were broken down in your basement which, might I add, is completely wrecked up, and finally, why is someone who's so good at racing as yourself, here in a small rink?" Jack asked.

"Now that's a lot of questions," Elsa stated dryly, "But I will answer them nonetheless. I do owe you after all. Is it okay if I start from my childhood?"

"That would be even better," Jack admitted.

"Okay," Elsa whispered, taking a deep breath before she started.

"I was born here in the rink, to Agnar Arendelle Winters and Iduna Winters. I've lived here for as long as I can remember, along with Anna, Rapunzel, and Merida. All of us became pros at ice skating, but Merida preferred Horse Riding more, Anna was interested in snowmen and Rapunzel loved cooking and painting. That left me to practice more than the others.

"My parents and Anna were normal by birth but Anna received her superhuman strength as she grew up whereas I was born with ice powers, which I inherited from my grandmother, and I really loved them. Anna and I would wake up in the middle of the night to play with my powers, make snowmen, have snowball fights, you name it. It went to the extent of Anna, Merida and Rapunzel never leaving my side during summer because the weather used to be a lot more hotter than it is now and I was able to keep them cool. I wanted to make them happier, so I started trying various things with my powers. And soon enough, my love for my powers grew so much that I wanted to learn more about them.

"I spoke to my father about this and he was reluctant at first, but he agreed after half a year of seeing how much my powers meant to me. So I left the rink and headed to the city at the age of eight. I joined a magical academy, which happened to be a boarding school, that taught children more about our powers. So I learnt and continued developing my powers and myself. And that's when it all started.

"Soon enough, the announcement for the auditions for the Race of Rapidity arrived at our academy. Back then, Manny worked as a professor in our academy, and I knew him since he was also part of the rink. He was very impressed with my work, even though I was barely eleven at that time, and encouraged me to try out for the race. I wasn't too sure, but when he pointed out that I might get to know of many other people's powers as well, I auditioned.

"It wasn't easy, as you might know, because of all the training we had to do. There were some times when I just wanted to return back home, but then I would remember how much dad and mom had sacrificed for me, and that drove me forwards. Manny agreed to train me and I trained much more than anyone in the whole academy. And soon enough, I came first in my academy for my performance, and I was selected for the Regionals.

"If I thought School level was tough, Regionals was worse. They trained us really hard and many even dropped out because they couldn't handle the stress. But as I told you, I wanted to know more so I pushed myself through everything. I met many people, and I was awestruck whenever I saw anyone's powers. But soon enough, thanks to the harsh training and Manny's motivational speeches, a new ambition stemmed into my heart- to win the Tachyons Cup.

"And of course, me being my usual self, I had plenty of doubts. All it took was one visit to the rink, where I saw how everyone was having a hard time without customers, and I was completely determined to win the Tachyons Cup. So I tried my best to win Regionals, knowing that the Regionals is where competitors get sponsored by whichever company gets interested in them. And finally, my hard work paid off, I won the Regionals in First place, and I signed a contract with Nightmares Inc. along with a few other racers.

"Though the company barely paid any attention to us newbies, we were given the freedom to do our own research. So I studied hard, and received even more information's about powers, not only mine but others as well. I continued training with Manny, who had officially become my coach. We were taken to Quarterfinals, and I claimed my victory by coming first in this as well. And only at the quarterfinals did I realise that I was really fast and that I can make myself even faster. So being the nerd I was, I researched more and more, and came up with techniques and learnt new moves by watching previous Tachyons Cup winners.

"And once I won the semifinals, our boss finally met up with me. We spoke for a long time and basically, he told me that if I were to win the Tachyons Cup, I will have the freedom to conduct any research I want but in return, I would have to sign a contract with Nightmares Inc. to not join any other company for the next ten years. Though I was pretty mature for an eleven-year old, I spoke to my parents about this, and they, along with Manny, had a conversation with my boss. They came to the conclusion that I would continue working for Nightmares Inc. but Manny would remain as my coach.

"Finally, I entered the finals, where I would race for the Tachyons Cup. It was definitely worse than I had imagined, but I tried my best and finished the race with an obvious victory. My parents and my entire family at the rink was overcome with joy and Manny had been so proud of me. I received all the money, gifts and fame that came with winning the race, and for a while, I felt content; I was satisfied with my powers. And that's when I was told that I would have to compete in the next race as well, as a representative of Nightmares Inc.

"The next to few months were hectic, attending interviews, visiting places for advertisement, filming many things; goodness it was hell. I couldn't even visit the rink for a long time, but the support everyone sent along with the letters and small gifts was worth it all. And soon enough, I was given a break, and I headed straight for the rink. And that's the story of me winning my very first Tachyons Cup when I was eleven years old." Elsa smiled.

"That sounds pretty rough but amazing at the same time. But what makes it even more fascinating was the fact that you were merely a kid." Jack grinned.

"Excuse me, but I wasn't your average eleven year old who was obsessed with Disney Princesses and Barbie, etc. Anyways, I thought as I'll get used to the stress, but my second time was worse than the first," Elsa admitted.

"Why's that's?" Jack asked.

"My first time at Nightmares Inc., I barely knew anything, and just followed whatever Manny told me to do. But two years later, when I was thirteen, the next Race of Rapidity started and I was called back to the company. Winning the Tachyons Cup the previous year meant that I was directly selected for the quarterfinals. But this time, I was put under even more stress, what with attending a few more interviews and having a bodyguard tailing me every minute of the day. I used to beg for breaks, but I was never granted any. And the company's personal trainers joined in training me, but were chased away many times by Manny. Being my coach the previous year meant he had become very popular as well, and things weren't easy for him. But I never let myself down and continued racing. And won the Race of Rapidity again, having developed greater than the last time.

"My third race two years later was pretty much the same, but the only difference was at that time, at the age of fifteen, I became the fastest. My current speed is nothing compared to how fast I was back then, and I won that race as well. To my delight, Merida had joined the race as well, but she could reach only the semifinals, where she came third.

"I was seventeen and preparing for my fourth race when everything went downhill. Nightmares Inc. started getting many more talented racers and slowly started losing interest in me, but my title as the only racer to win three consecutive races kept them from firing me. Besides, the President was a greedy asshole and he knew that if I was fired, the other companies wouldn't hesitate to hire me. I was fine till my semifinals, but I used to argue a lot with my other trainers and my manager, and that made the situation kind of difficult to handle.

"It was when I came back to the rink during my break before finals that I received the worst news I ever got: my parents had got caught in a storm when they were sailing for business matters, and they never returned. Their ship was found at the bottom of the ocean and their bodies were found almost eaten up by the marine life.

"I..." Jack cut in, completely taken aback by the information he just received. "I'm sorry..."

"Nah, forget about it. I'm done grieving and it's been long since I accepted that they've truly gone. It's just..." Elsa whispered to herself, and Jack watched on as Elsa leaned her head back and stared at the sky. "I just miss them a lot and I wish I could've spent more time with them," she admitted.

Jack wasted no time in sitting at her side, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. Elsa froze for a few seconds before she placed a hand on his, which was on her shoulder.

"Thanks," Elsa gave a thankful smile, settled comfortably against Jack's side.

"The funeral was held a few days later but I wasn't allowed to attend, due to the finals being close. I was completely stressed and heartbroken, and I wasn't even able to practice for the next few days. Not able to handle any of it anymore, I begged my boss to leave me to return to the rink. He refused, but I was adamant about returning. It was only when he threatened me that he wouldn't hesitate to hurt Anna and the others did I realise that my boss and his company were just a group of monsters following one big devil.

"I was forced to train, and the fact that Manny was practically held hostage was the only reason I went along with the training. And then in the blink of an eye, I was standing at the beginning tracks of the finals, my mind just clouded with all kinds of thoughts. The race began and I flew with all my might, trying my best to concentrate on the race. But I couldn't.

"Memories of my peaceful childhood which consisted of midnight games with the girls, Rapunzel's mom reciting her favourite stories to all of us, Merida forcing us all to ride on the horse without her parents' permission- all of it just suddenly flashed before my eyes. I swayed a bit, trying my best to take control again, but my parents' and Anna's smiling faces fading into the darkness, their bodies being pulled out of the shipwreck and Anna begging me to stay as she clung onto me just played before my eyes, and everything else in the world just vanished. I was about to reach out to them-"

Elsa's hand reached up to the sky, making Jack's heart tighten in sympathy and sorrow.

"-when I completely slipped. I was clinging onto dear life by holding onto my snowboard which I use for flying, when one of the other racers, Hans Westerguard, also a competitor sponsored my Nightmares Inc. flew right over me. We were flying through a dark tunnel, but I could see his eyes gleaming in victory as he pulled my fingers off my board and let go of them just as we exited. I crashed to the ground from a great height, and I knew I was doomed."

"He deliberately pushed you off?!" Jack asked, horrified and furious that someone could do that and none of the officials spoke against it.

"Oh it gets even worse," Elsa stated dryly before continuing.

"I don't remember much of what happened later, but once I woke up, I was informed of having a fractured arm and leg, and several broken ribs. They told me that it was a miracle that I had managed to survive because a fall from such a height was a definite death for anyone. I just stayed in bed for days, often visited by my friends and family, Anna being the most frequent visitor. And while I was in the hospital, Manny took care of everything regarding my career, and he seemed to avoid me for some reason.

"Once I was well enough to sit up in bed, Hans visited. He was pretty smug about winning that year's Cup, but I barely paid any attention to him. And I was pretty straightforward when I asked him about what happened on the tracks. He just laughed, telling me that it was something the company had asked him to do.

"I consulted my boss about this when he paid a visit, telling me that he had 'missed' me and that he was 'worried' for me. He kept giving me the sweet talk but I showed him that I was in no mood for any of his bullshit. And that's when he showed me his true nature."

Elsa stayed silent for a few seconds as she took a few deep breaths and Jack just tightened his grip around her. Elsa leaned against him, grateful for his support as she continued.

"Pitch Black, the President of Nightmares Inc., was a complete monster. He told me that he had really wanted me to win, initially, but when I was on my break, Hans' father, a well-known businessman, came and spoke to him about how he wanted Hans to win that year's Race of Rapidity, having failed the past two years. Pitch had said that Hans winning wasn't possible as long as I was in the race, but Mr Westerguard couldn't care less as he insisted that Hans has to win. And right then, when Pitch got to know about my parents' death, he formulated a plan and set up a man to stalk me to see my behaviour after my parents' death. Once he was sure that I wasn't in focus, he discussed his plan with the Westerguards and they were happy as well.

"And finally, on the day of the race, they put their plan in action and once I was in the tunnel, it turned out that I didn't slip on my own, but Hans had actually melted part of my snowboard. And well, you know the rest. I slipped and fell while he completed the race and won.

"Obviously, I was completely horrified when he told me about this, and even told him that I'm gonna go to the police. Pitch just smirked and replied that the power of the Nightmares Inc and the Westerguards is on a higher level than a simple seventeen-year-old, no matter whether I won the races or not. I didn't hesitate to curse him in very 'beautiful' words until he pointed out that me losing the race was my own fault, and Hans and the others just played a tiny part in it.

"And at that moment it struck me, that no matter what, it was my own fault for losing focus during the race. Yeah, Hans may have attempted to make me fall, but that wouldn't have happened if I had paid attention to my surroundings." Elsa whispered.

"Elsa, it was not your fault," Jack consoled her, looking at her face as she stared down at the rocks, "you literally just told me that this Pitch person and the Westerguards planned to take you out, how- how is that still your fault?"

"Jack, their plan consisted of me losing focus, which happened exactly how they wanted. Because if it had been the fifteen-year-old me, I would've finished the race as fast as possible instead of drowning in my thoughts," Elsa pointed out.

"You couldn't help it, your parents died and you couldn't even visit their funeral. I mean, how horrible is that?! As a person who's lost their parents, I know how you feel," Jack stated.

Elsa just stared at him in shock, and Jack's eyes widened when he realised what he had just blurted out.

"What-" Elsa started.

"I'm gonna explain everything later on anyways, so continue with your tale," Jack muttered.

"Okay," Elsa gave him one side glance, before turning to the sky again.

"Anyways, Pitch basically told me that I was fired now that I lost the race. And even though he told me that there was no point in going to the police, I tried filing a complaint anyways but it was rejected at once. I tried arguing about this but they merely looked at me before requesting me to leave." Elsa frowned.

"Didn't Manny back you up on this? And why does he hate you so much anyway?" Jack asked.

"The answer to the first question would be no, he didn't, because I never told anyone but Anna about this. And for the second question, honestly, I don't know. But I just have a feeling that his respect and love for me completely vanished after my race." Elsa answered.

"And why would you think like that?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I lived with him in the same dorm and considered him as my second father and he lovingly teased me and praised me until after my semifinals. But after we came back to the city from the rink, I wasn't in focus as much as I used to be. I messed up a lot during training and he would always give me a disapproving look. But after I lost the race, he completely despised me.

"A few days before the race, I became desperate and begged him to talk to me or tell me what's wrong. He wouldn't even glance at me before telling me to get to bed. He even put me in a different dorm after a few weeks. I guess the only explanation for his behaviour would be that his star player became a loser and hence, he loathed me.

"I was an emotional wreck after getting discharged from the hospital, so I was brought back to the rink. I stayed in my parents' house for weeks, refusing to come out until Anna came and sat next to me, and spoke to me. I eventually told her everything about my life, and by the end, I was a sobbing mess. That was the day she encouraged me to not lose hope, and to continue pursuing my dream.

"Of course, Manny had taken after my dad in taking care of the rink so I had to ask his permission to head to the city again. He refused, telling me that I had no reason to go back. I argued with him that racing is my dream and I want to continue racing, but he only looked at me and said that Pitch wouldn't hire me again, and he will make sure that I can't join any other company either. I was upset after that conversation and told Anna about this. She just woke me up in the middle of the night and we left to the city.

"As he had said, I couldn't join Nightmares Inc. again, and Pitch literally said to my face that the Westerguards have a lot to offer him than a girl from a small ice rink. But I tried visiting some other companies as well, and none of them were ready to hire me. After asking three such companies, I lost all hope of ever racing again and I returned to the rink. Manny completely avoided me for the next few days, but he had to talk to me once I started working for the rink. And he's hated me ever since. The end." Elsa sighed.

"Wow, that is one _heck_ of a tough life story," Jack commented, "what about your basement and the trophies in there?"

"After coming back to the rink, I stopped using my powers as they just reminded me of how much of a failure I am. So obviously, after being used for such a long time, my powers continued growing even though I stopped using them. And if I don't let it out time to time, it eventually bursts out, like air filling a balloon. So I needed a place where I could just relieve myself of my stress, and the basement was perfect since its existence is practically unknown, except for that door which you used to enter.

"And my trophies... I couldn't help it. Whenever I saw them, no matter whether it was my first or last cup, they just haunted me and reminded me of my past. But then one day, I couldn't take it anymore; I just grabbed all of them and blasted them in the basement. But they didn't break since they're made from some magical metal. So there you go, my complete life story has been recited," Elsa finished.

"If that story was written in a novel, it would be the best selling book of all times," Jack stated.

"Blah blah, now tell your story." Elsa demanded.

"Do I have to?" Jack whined.

"Yes, now start talking," Elsa insisted.

Jack just huffed, before he glanced back at the rock they were sitting on, before looking at Elsa again.

"Can we lie down?"


	11. Chapter 11

"Okay, now we're lying down. So get on with the storytelling already!" Elsa complained.

After a long argument, Jack finally convinced Elsa that it would be much more comfortable if they laid down on the rocks while he explained. Of course, she had refused while blushing slightly, but Jack just stated that he wouldn't share his story unless both of them were comfortable. Left with no other choice, Elsa had sighed and had laid down, and both were looking up at the purple-ish orange sky before Elsa said the above sentence.

"Geez okay," Jack grumbled before he sighed and started his tale. "You wanted to know why I'm so obsessed with winning the race right?"

Elsa nodded.

"To tell you the truth, I was never interested in the Race of Rapidity, or about anyone's powers or whatever. I was just a young innocent boy -stop choking Snowflake- who lived in a small village and wanted to have fun and make others happy. But all of that changed when my father passed away when I was about ten years old. I could do nothing except watch as my mother struggled to look after my younger sister and me while working at the same time.

"So once I hit my fifteenth birthday, I started working about three part-time jobs to help my mother. She didn't want me to work, but she understood that I had to, if we wanted to live comfortably. Our house was a lot more peaceful after that. We both worked all day but made sure to spend some time with each other and with my sister, Emma, who is ten years younger than me. I think she was sadder about my dad's death than mom and I because she was born just two months after dad's death.

"Anyways, life was perfect for the three of us until after my seventeenth birthday, when my mother was diagnosed with some disease. That was probably the biggest shocking news I had heard in my entire life. Emma and I tried our best to support our mom, but she was hospitalized a few months later. I had managed to get a job, but I couldn't pay all the bills with it. And soon enough, my mom passed away, a month after my eighteenth birthday.

"Emma and I cried for days and nights, and I tried my best to manage a living for Emma and myself with the wages I received. But the worst part of it all was I knew that mom would have survived if she had received proper medical care. And the reason she couldn't get any help was that I couldn't get any money for her bills. I didn't work hard enough, I wasn't _strong_ enough, and as a result, she was taken." Jack whispered the last part.

"Jack, no matter what you tell yourself, in the end, you know you couldn't have done much," Elsa spoke softly.

"Well, its too late to convince me otherwise," Jack commented dryly.

"So then, after a whole year of grieving, I was sick and tired of watching the people I love fade away right before my eyes. I wanted to be stronger and become more capable to help people who are close to me. And I was scared that I might lose Emma as well, the only person I have left. And that's when I decided that I wanted to be more powerful. I started working on my powers first of all because the only reason I used them was to play with children. My ice powers proved to be a total waste, so I focused on my wind powers instead."

 _No magical power in this world is a waste, Jack..._ Elsa thought to herself.

"On one such day when I was playing with my wind powers, I bumped into an old friend of my father's, who was practically family back when my dad was alive. We sat down and spoke for hours together, and he told me about the Race of Rapidity. Since I was born in a village, I didn't know much about it, except that it was a high-class competition which only rich people can take part in."

"Seriously?" Elsa snorted, "Then lemme tell you that I am actually a billionaire who joined the race because my pockets were overfilled."

"Haha, hilarious. Anyways, I was completely captivated as he told me about this race, and the only thing that my brain could come up with was that I can become more powerful and earn a _lot_ of money at the same time. I asked him how I can enter the race, and he told me that there are different methods, but the most common one is to be part of a magic school where you compete with others and make your way to the Regionals. Obviously, I didn't have time to waste or the money to get myself an admission in any magic school. Moreover, I was already eighteen, so I asked him about any other way.

"And that's when he told me that I can get selected for the Regionals if I become a trainee at his company and get selected by the trainers there. He's actually the CEO of a famous sports company called the Guardians Inc. So I started working hard and finally got selected to be a trainee a few months after I turned nineteen. But the selection for that year's race was already over, so I continued training hard. And my effort paid off as I got selected for this year's Regionals and came first place in it.

"But two years of harsh and nonstop training changed me a lot; physically and mentally. My initial goal was to become more powerful so that I can win the race, earn a lot of money and support Emma, but it soon changed and now all I care about is winning the Tachyons Cup. And hence, keeping that goal in mind, I aced the quarterfinals and the semifinals and I was just on my way to achieving my ultimate goal when I got stuck here. And there you go, the end!"

The two of them stayed silent after that until something popped up in Elsa's mind.

"Where do all your flirting habits come from, though?" She asked.

Jack grimaced before answering. "Its just something that my trainers and fellow trainees told would work... Especially if I needed a favour or if I was in trouble..."

"Didn't help you much this time, huh?" Elsa smirked.

"It was a complete waste of time and effort." Jack groaned.

"Well then, your sister, Emma- does she live with you?" Elsa asked.

"Nope. I left her with my father's sister when I left for my training." Jack replied casually.

"You said you've been working nonstop for two years, right?" Elsa asking, sitting up so that she could see his face as she asked her questions.

"Yup," Jack raised his arms and placed his hands below his head.

"And does this nonstop mean you didn't see your sister at all?" Elsa raised an eyebrow.

"Um... I did visit her a couple of times..." Jack trailed away, looking away from her piercing gaze. He glanced back and saw her glaring at him, which made him groan. "Okay, fine I admit it. I visited her for the first few months until I became completely obsessed with developing my powers. I haven't seen her for a year or so."

"Jack are you an idiot?!" Elsa hissed before smacking him hard on the arm.

"Ow, that hurts!" Jack whined, rubbing his arm.

"Why didn't you visit her?" Elsa asked.

"Well, I told you! My goal changed and I became obsessed with winning the race! And besides, Emma is safe and happy with other kids her age in my aunt's house," He complained.

"Do you really think she's happy?"

"...yes?"

"That sounded more like a question than a statement, meaning you aren't sure whether she's happy or not."

"Look, at least she doesn't have a useless older brother hovering over her, who can't even maintain a low-wage job properly," Jack grumbled.

"Goodness, I knew you were stupid but not _this_ stupid!" Elsa groaned. "Jack, both of you have lost both of your parents. And you even said that Emma was probably sadder because she couldn't even meet her father. So after your mom died, just like how she's the only one you have, you became the only one she has! I mean, what would you do if Emma, the only person you rely on, suddenly left you a few months after your mom died?!"

Elsa had this sudden urge to slap him when he gave her a blank stare as realisation slowly crept onto his face, but she held herself back.

"You imbecile, come to your senses already!" Elsa grabbed his jacket collar and yanked him up. "What are you gonna do once you achieve that title of Tachyons Cup winner? How can it even come of use? A title is just a title, Jack! It can easily slip away from you when someone else appears. But the family isn't like that! No matter what you go through, the first ones to stay by your side will always be your family! And you just left yours, initially for her sake, but gradually for your own. Don't you feel guilty?!"

Jack just stared at her, regret making its appearance along with guilt and sadness.

"I-I-" he stuttered, speechless at her outburst.

"You moron," Elsa sighed, pulling him up even more so that he sat up straight. "Be honest with me. Did you even speak with Emma?"

"I- yes, she called up when I was leaving for California," Jack admitted.

"And how did she sound?"

"...sad."

"And did you feel bad when you heard her voice?"

"...yes."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes," he replied without any hesitation, unlike his previous replies. His own eyes widened in surprise at the quick reply while Elsa just smiled and moved her hands from his collar to his shoulders.

"Then talk to her," she advised, her voice soft and assuring, "She's the only family you have now, and I'm pretty sure she'd love to see you too."

"She wouldn't," Jack muttered, looking down at the rocks.

"And why's that?"

"My goal wasn't the only thing that changed. As my training proceeded, I started isolating myself from others and from Emma. I wanted to change, so I completely changed myself. I started wearing black all the time, I got piercings done in my ear, I always dye my hair white, I became a huge flirt and I even changed the form of my staff from a wooden hooked stick to a steel-black villain's staff coz others told it would look better. Goodness, I even changed my name from Jackson Overland Frost to Jack Frost because my original name sounded old-school." Jack admitted.

"And how were you before all of this?"

"I wore blue most of the time because both Emma and I loved blue, I was just a normal guy with brown hair who was charming and worked as a part-time pizza delivery boy," Jack muttered.

"Jack," Elsa started, making him face her by placing both of her hands on his cheeks, "it isn't a matter of the past or present you. Because you are who you are. Do you wish you never became the person who you are now?"

"Well, I do like myself other than a few habits of mine," Jack admitted.

"You see, if you like who you are, then it means you are being yourself. Past self, present self, all of it was you and no one else. So no one can ask you to change. You need to do that on your own. It's your decision if you want to change some aspects of yours. But the one thing I'm telling you is to never ignore your family again. Because you know the pain of losing your parents, and I do too, and if I were to lose Anna, I would jump off a cliff and die. Do you wanna lose Emma like you lost your parents?"

"No," phat came the reply.

"Then talk to her. Explain why you were being an asshole to her this entire time. I am sure she'll understand and come to forgive you," Elsa smiled.

Jack just stared at her smiling face and had this sudden urge to hug her. But instead, he gave a weak smile. "Thanks, Snowflake," he whispered.

"No problem. Now get up, it's getting dark and Anna would kick your ass if we turned up late." Elsa grinned, standing up and wrapping her scarf around her neck.

"You should seriously take up the job of a counsellor or something," Jack teased, but he had a fond smile on his face.

"Nobody's got time for that," Elsa replied in a sassy tone as she swung her bag on her shoulder, "besides, I know how uncomfortable it is to talk about your traumas to a complete stranger. Not for everyone, though."

"Then what about me? Am I a complete stranger?" Jack asked as he picked up his own bag.

"I think you're at least at the first level of being friends since you literally know my past," Elsa replied as she waited for him.

"Oh Snowflake, I thought we were more," Jack pouted, though the mischievous glint in his eyes made her blush a bit.

"Of course we aren't! Why would I date an idiot like you?" Elsa grinned.

"Fair point, Milady," Jack nodded, making her laugh under her breath. "Let's get going now." He stated, walking towards her to lift her up again.

"We can just take the stairs," Elsa pointed out, stepping back a bit.

"Nah, where's the fun in that? Besides," he trailed off, grabbing her waist and yanking her towards himself. "I love carrying you in my arms."

"You know how I told you about changing some aspects of yours?" Elsa started, her face a little pink as Jack pressed her against his own body. "You really need to change these flirty habits of yours."

"But why?" Jack whined, lifting her up bridal style, "As much as I hate it, flirting with _you_ gives me a completely different sense of joy. And I know you like it when I flirt with you."

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you do!"

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"What's the proof?"

"That adorable blush on your face, which just increased when I called you adorable."

"I'm not blushing! It's because of the cold!"

"But you have ice powers!"

"That doesn't mean I'm not human!"

And their endless bickering continued on as Jack flew them to where the motorbike was parked.

He quickly retrieved the hidden helmets and they were off to the rink, finally silencing themselves.

...

"Hey Snowflake, we're here," Jack stated as took off his helmet.

Unlike the first time they rode the bike together, Elsa had her arms wrapped around him as she leaned her head against his back.

 _'I wouldn't even if I was falling to my death' she had said.._ Jack thought to himself with a smile on his face.

She had been silent for the entire ride, and that gave Jack time to think about everything that they had spoken about.

And now, after reaching the rink, Jack called out to her once more but Elsa stayed in the same position, which made Jack wonder.

 _Is she..._

He almost laughed out loud it when he saw that she was fast asleep, but his laughter turned into a fond smile when he felt her arms tighten around him. Normally, he would've ripped her off him and would've walked away, but his perspective of her changed drastically after these past few days. And the way she gently advised him after hearing his story was, in his eyes, truly marvellous.

 _As much as I love it when she's hugging me, I need to take her back..._

"Hey Snowflake," Jack poked her cheek gently, "time to wake up."

"Fiv' mo' min'ts.." She mumbled, burying her head in his back.

 _Awww..._

 _Jack get a hold of yourself!_

Though his face was scorching red right now, Jack continued poking her cheek and sighed when she didn't seem to have any plans of waking up any time soon.

 _That leaves me with no choice then..._

Jack turned around to the side and wrapped an arm around her to hold her straight before he got off the bike. Elsa made a sound of protest but Jack just slid her off the bike and carried her bridal style. Elsa quickly snuggled into his chest and Jack just looked down and smiled at her as he walked around the rink. He noticed the lights on in the supper hall and walked in, only to dodge a steel tumbler which went flying over his head.

"JACK FROST WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?!" Anna roared as she ran towards them.

Jack screamed in a girly manner before he ran and hid behind Kristoff.

"I swear on my mother's grave that I didn't do anything to your sister! We were sitting and talking and she fell asleep on the way here and- _ohmygoodnesspleasedon'tkillme_!" Jack rambled, his words barely understandable as he hid behind the blonde.

"You have two minutes to run before I rip off your little-"

"Now now Anna, calm down and let him explain," Rapunzel stepped in, grabbing Anna's shoulders and yanking her back to make her sit down.

 _This girl is_ _ **scary...**_

"Thank you," Jack gulped.

"Well, you better explain fast or even Punzie won't be able to hold me back," Anna crossed her arms.

"I told you, we were returning from the waterfalls when she fell asleep. I tried waking her up but she wouldn't so I thought I'll carry her. I saw the lights still on here so I came to see you guys," Jack repeated.

"Really, are you sure you didn't drug her with anything?" Flynn joked, but then he gulped when he saw Anna glaring at him which made him raise his hands in surrender. "Just kidding."

"But I wanna know what happened the whole day. Start talking," Anna demanded.

"Geez, fine" Jack rolled his eyes, before he looked down at the platinum-blonde in his arms. "Don't you think we should put her in bed first?"

"Okay then, get her here. I'll go and set her in bed and then we can discuss today's events," Anna stated and held her arms out for Jack to place Elsa.

"Are you sure you can take her on your own?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Are you forgetting who I am?" Anna asked, her own eyebrows raised.

"Oh yeah, you're Hulk's successor," Jack muttered as he walked forward.

"What was that, Frost?"

"Nothing, ma'am." Jack squeaked.

But just as he reached her, Rapunzel leapt forward and grabbed Anna. She pulled her away and the two started whispering something to each other.

"What are they talking about?" Jack asked.

"Trust me, its probably something you wouldn't want to know," Flynn patted him on his shoulder.

...

"But why should I let him carry my sister to her bed? What if he tries to do something to her and-"

"Anna," Rapunzel cut her off by placing her hand on Anna's mouth as she stared at her determinedly. "Don't you ship those two?"

"I do! I just think its too early for him to take her bed to and-"

"Jelsa?" Rapunzel reminded her. The strawberry-blonde just stared at her for a few seconds before she sighed in defeat.

Anna turned around to the men and walked over to Jack before crossing her arms.

"Can I trust you to leave her in bed?" She asked. Jack, Flynn and Kristoff just blinked in shock and glanced at Rapunzel before looking at Anna again.

"What?" Jack asked, dumbfounded.

"I asked, can you leave my sister in bed?" She repeated, before sighing and dropping her arms to her side. "I still haven't had my dinner and Punzie here pointed out that I can probably finish up by the time you return and we can talk."

"Are you sure? Because then I'll have to remove her mobile from her pocket, remove her scarf, jacket, her boots and-"

"Why you little-"

"Anna calm down!" Rapunzel jumped forward again and hugged Anna from behind her before she looked over at Jack.

"Just leave her in bed, Jack. Anna and I will go later and make her comfortable," she stated.

"Okay..." Jack trailed off before he turned around and walked away.

His arms felt a little numb from carrying her for so long but Jack wasn't bothered by it as he walked towards her house. It was surprisingly open and Jack walked in and up the stairs and reached her room in no time. He held her more tightly when he tried opening her bedroom door, and Elsa snuggled closer to his chest.

He finally got through and looked around the neat and organized room. There was a desk to a corner and opposite to it was her bed, and there were a few photos hanging on the walls. All of them were of her family, her parents, Anna, Anna and Elsa, and the rest of the members at the rink. He looked at each one with a smile on his face until he noticed that there wasn't even a single trace of anything related to the race.

Jack gently set Elsa on her bed. Elsa had a small smile on her face, her hair spread out on the pillow behind her head. She pulled her legs up, curled into a ball and hugged her knees as she slept.

 _She. Is._ _ **Adorable.**_

Jack smiled to himself before he finally got up. He gave her one last glance as he closed the door.

...

"So to sum it up, she owed you so you took her on a date, both of you took a dip and you spoke about each other's tragic background stories," Flynn stated.

"Pretty much," Jack nodded.

"So you didn't do anything romantic?" Rapunzel asked, with an are-you-kidding-me kinda expression on her face.

"Well, swimming with her and the ride was pretty romantic, I guess," Jack admitted before he realised what he just told. "I mean, it didn't have to be romantic. I just wanted to know about the trophies, that's all! I said it would be a date, but both of us knew it wasn't a _date_ date. Yeah, not _that_ kind of date."

"Okay..." Flynn trailed off awkwardly.

"I just have one thing to ask you, Jack," Anna stated, leaning forward from where she sat across Jack on the other side of the table.

"Do you like my sister?"


	12. Chapter 12

"What?" Jack blinked, becoming blank for a second.

"I asked whether you like my sister?" Anna rolled her eyes.

"Um, yeah. I mean, she _did_ tell that we're at least friends now and I respect and admire her a lot-"

"I meant romantically."

"Oh." Jack paused, his mind flashing with all the almost-kisses and other moments they'd had. "Of course not."

"Is that so?" Anna muttered, her face showing a mixture of relief and sadness, though Jack had no idea how both the emotions could appear at the same time.

"Yeah." He convinced himself.

"Do you plan on hurting her?"

"What? Why would I?!" Jack raised an eyebrow. "Like- yeah, I did hate her when I first came here coz she is the one who made me stay here -I still haven't forgiven her for that- but given everything she's gone through, I can kinda understand her skepticism and that Mr Moon might've punished her more if she had just let me go."

Everyone looked surprised at his words, their eyes wide and eyebrows raised, and Flynn even had his jaw dropped.

"Well," Rapunzel spoke up, breaking everyone out of their shock, "that's sweet of yo-"

"But that doesn't mean I'm happy with staying here either," Jack cut in. "I'm just waiting to finish this whole business with the rink so that I can get to my race in time! I'm probably on the news everywhere as we speak!"

"Seriously dude?" Flynn deadpanned.

Jack smirked. "Why are we even talking about this? It's not like I'm gonna stay here forever. I'm almost done with the rink, I have just a few more things to take care of and after that, I'll be out of here before any of you can even blink."

And after that, Jack turned and walked to his room.

He fell on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as his heart started eating him up. He sighed when he reran his last words in his head, his brain showing him flashes of when Elsa had comforted him after he told her about himself.

 _If it had been me from three years ago, I'm pretty sure I would've become great friends with all of them by now..._

 _'if you like who you are, then it means you are being yourself.' 'It's your decision if you want to change some aspects of yours.' She had said._

 _I guess this cockiness is one aspect I would love to get rid of... But it literally has become my defense mechanism from when the other trainees made fun of me for being poor..._

He groaned loudly and flipped over to lie down on his stomach. He buried his face in his pillow, trying to forget all that was going on in his head.

 _Think of something positive..._  
 _Think of something happy..._

' _ **I think it's only fair if you were the first to go down.'**_

Jack opened his eyes again when he remembered Elsa as his first happy thought. The fun moments of that afternoon when they had played around in the water and later when he had wrapped his arms around her to comfort her just flashed before his eyes, and Jack gulped, trying hard to convince himself that he did _not_ like her in that way.

He rolled over in his bed and tried hard to think about something else. Soon enough, his memories from his earlier years when he played a lot with Emma and the other children resurfaced and Jack smiled as he continued dreaming about the time when he was happy with his family and didn't have any big problems to face.

And just as he closed his eyes, his staff glimmered -slightly- in the dark, the metallic steel black colour fading away in the darkness as its original form slowly resurfaced, the top of the staff curving into the wooden stick Jack had always used.

...

 _What the hell is happening...?_

Jack blinked in confusion and jumped out of the way as Merida's younger brothers ran past him, carrying big trays of food in their hands.

He turned around and saw equal -if not more- amount of haste across the rink as everyone readied their shops. He walked over to Flynn's shop, where he was hurriedly cleaning the counter while Rapunzel brought a new batch of apple pies and placed them for display.

"Yo dude, what's going on with everyone?" He asked, leaning against the counter.

"Customers! We're having customers!" Flynn yelled before running into the bakery himself, helping his wife to bring all the chocolate cookies.

"So?" He asked again, only to be ignored as the couple fussed over cleaning their shop.

Jack sighed in frustration and walked out of the bakery and headed over to Kristoff and Anna's shop, only to be met with a huge pile of ice in the middle of the shop. "What the heck?!"

"Oh my Gods, Jack, can you please help us out here?" Anna tugged on his sleeve.

"Uh, sure?" He replied though he was already being dragged to the huge ice mountain.

"Clear this up, would ya? Kristoff cleaned his stupid clothes -which were covered in ice after he came back today morning- _and_ placed all his stupid ice blocks _right in the middle of the shop!_ Like, who the hell is _that_ stupid?!" She continued raging as she paced around the entire shop, arranging all the miniature ice carvings, which never melted unless exposed to extreme heat.

Jack remained confused as he lifted the ice using his powers and guided them out of the backdoor. After dropping the ice near a tree, he returned inside and just raised an eyebrow when he saw that instead of cleaning, Anna was messing up the shop even more.

He walked out of the shop again and decided to go check on Elsa, knowing that she didn't own a shop.

 _I mean, I can check up on her, right? She did say that we're at least friends..._

He walked up the small flight of stairs and knocked on the door. Hearing no reply from inside, Jack turned the knob and to his surprise, it opened. He slowly opened the door, checking if she's anywhere in the living room, before walking up the stairs to her room.

Just for his own safety's sake, Jack knocked on the doors and this time, he heard a muffled reply, which was barely audible. He knocked again and waited as he heard shuffling inside the room.

"Anna, I told you to go aw-" she stopped mid-sentence when she found the white-haired racer instead of her bubbly sister. "Jack, what the heck are you doing here?"

"Um, everyone is panicking outside so I came to see what you were doing." Jack shrugged, his eyes darting to her messed up hair and her disheveled clothes.

Realising that her appearance wasn't the best, Elsa sighed. "Gimme a minute." And she closed the door.

Jack walked downstairs and waited on the couch and sooner than he had expected, Elsa came down as well, dressed up in her usual long skirt and full-sleeve blouse.

They walked out together and Elsa sighed again when she saw the anxiety and panic everywhere. She clapped her hands loudly which made everyone stop and turn to her.

"Guys, can everyone please calm down?!" She yelled, walking around the rink towards them with Jack following right behind her.

"But Elsa, customers are coming!" Anna exclaimed.

"And they're gonna freak out when they meet with a bunch of overexcited adults!" Elsa pointed out.

"But-"

"No buts. We've rehearsed this before so please calm down and return to your shops before Mr Moon arrives." She announced.

There was grumbling but they listened to her and headed to their shops.

"Wow," Jack muttered, impressed that she got them under control within minutes.

Elsa rubbed her temple with her index and thumb finger, sighing in frustration again. "I think you need to start planting new trees to replace the ones you uprooted."

"What? Right now?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Ask Kristoff for the plants. Then you can dig up some good spots with Merida and Rapunzel's help where you can plant them." And saying so, she walked into her house and slammed the door behind her.

Jack stared at the door for a few seconds before making his way to Kristoff and Anna's souvenir shop. He noticed Anna fixing the ice carvings while Kristoff hung a few handknit sweaters for display.

"Um, Kristoff? Elsa told me to ask you for the plants, or something?" He asked.

Kristoff went to the back of their shop and called him over. Jack saw that he was holding a few average-sized juniper trees, which were planted in pots. The two of them, with Anna's help, took each tree and placed it near every tree that was uprooted and after that, Rapunzel and Merida arrived to check for nice spots to plant them.

Meanwhile, Jack got a shovel from Flynn and waited for the girls to call him. He looked around the rink, unconsciously searching for something and was bummed out when he saw that Elsa's door was still closed and she had not come out even once. Unknown to himself, he glanced at her door and window plenty of times and even felt the urge to go check on her by flying to her window.

He really considered it, seeing how his staff was just chilling in his room. Speaking of which, Jack had been flabbergasted when he woke up and saw his staff turned to how it had been before. He had also noticed that the staff hadn't become completely normal. Its original shape was back but its colour was still black, which made Jack realise that his feelings were returning but he was still doubtful, which explained why the staff was still black.

Just as Jack got up to check up on her, Anna and the others called him and he sighed, picking up the shovel as he made his way to them.

...

"Well, you've successfully finished planting two of them! Just eight more and you'll be done!" Merida smirked.

Jack threw the shovel to the ground, bent and placed his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He had just thought that he just had to dig a hole, place the tree and close the hole. But the three women made sure that he cleared the snow, dug the holes with correct depth and shape, making him place the tree himself before he covered the spot around the tree with snow again.

At first, Jack took it up as a challenge but by the end of the second tree, he was exhausted and sweating from head to toe. He had ditched his leather jacket, knowing that it would just come in the way, which left him in a pair of black jeans and a black T-shirt, which was soaked in sweat and mud.

He rubbed his wrist on his face to wipe the sweat, only to notice the mud on his hands and face as well.

 _God, I hope she doesn't see me this way..._

All of a sudden, the Dunbroch triplets came running and stumbling towards their sister, knocking each other aside to reach her first.

"Woah, what the hell?!" Merida exclaimed, leaning forward to catch them before they fell face-first on the ground.

"They're here!" The three boys exclaimed before running off again.

"Holy sh*t!" Merida cursed as she followed them, screaming for her mom as she reached their shop. The other two women took off as well, their panic levels rising again.

 _What the hell, they're just customers..._

 _...who can help me get out of here!_

Jolting in realisation, Jack threw the shovel away and ran to the rink, looking around for the newcomers, only to be disappointed.

 _You've got to be_ _ **kidding**_ _me..._

Jack groaned internally when he saw an old couple, probably in their 60's, arrive on an old-model scooter bike, which was slower than a toddler. They had emotionless faces as they drove around the rink, not showing the least bit of interest in the shops.

"Hello sir, ma'am. Would you like to rest and have a cup of coffee?" Rapunzel asked sweetly, only to be ignored.

Anna stepped up next, followed by her boyfriend who was holding a few sweaters. "Welcome to Arendelles' Souvenir Shop! Would you like to take a look at our handknit sweaters? Or maybe our tiny ice carvings? Just the best in the world!"

And she received just as much attention as Rapunzel did.

"How're ya doin, sir, ma'am? Want a sword to fend off naughty kids from interrupting your peaceful day? Well, you're at the right place coz we have the best swords and other stylish weaponry to decorate your place with!"

And as expected, absolutely no response.

They followed the old couple, advertising their shops in all kinds of different ways which just increased Jack's sympathy for them. And ignoring them for a few minutes, Jack crept towards the couple and walked right next to their slow bike as he explained.

"Hey there! You know me, right? I'm Jack Frost, the racer nominated for the Tachyons cup in the Race of Rapidity!" He stood right in front of them, blocking their way.

The old couple barely raised their eyebrows before driving around him.

"Hey, look! I've been made to stay here against my will! If you could contact my team, they'll come and get me out of here! I'll even let you have a part of my reward money once I win the race! Hey! Wait!"

Not paying the slightest heed to his words, the couple just continued on their way and were out of eyesight soon enough.

Jack stared at the direction they had left, frustration and anger building up in him. He let out a few curse words, blaming his rotten luck for everything that was happening to him.

"That didn't work, huh?"

Jack jumped, turning around only to find a smirking Elsa staring at the direction the couple had driven off in.

"Shut up." He mumbled.

"I thought you'd learnt your lesson that you won't be leaving until you finish clearing up the mess you created." Elsa sashayed away.

"I'm still not giving up, Snowflake." Jack followed her.

"Yeah, yeah. I've got a little consoling to do so see ya." She sighed, walking over to her family.

Only then did Jack notice just how disappointed everyone was, that the customers had left without buying anything. He saw how perfectly Elsa handled the situation, talking softly to each person and suggesting they do something to cheer themselves up. It took approximately an hour for her to finally raise their spirits and as they left, Jack saw how she sighed in exhaustion.

"Well, you look tired." He commented.

"So do you." Elsa started walking back to her room.

"Been working in your room all day?" Jack guessed.

"Yup. See ya."

Elsa returned to her house and closed the door again, and Jack lifted the shovel and continued his work.

...

After finishing about five trees in total, Jack decided to call it a day and went to his room to take a shower. Once he was done, he dressed and headed down for dinner, noticing that Elsa hadn't come.

After supper, he silently flew over to her window, peeping in to see what she was doing. He raised himself a little higher and left his entire head through the window, looking around in search of her.

"It's rude to stalk people, you know."

Jack whipped his head to the side and found Elsa sitting at her study table, her face pressed against a book like she was frustrated at the book.

"It's not stalking. Its called ' _checking up on your friends coz they've been busy the whole day_ '." Jack stated, hoisting himself into the room.

"You know, its bad manners to enter a woman's room without her permission." She finally raised her head but continued staring at the book.

"That would apply only if this seemed like a woman's room. Looks like you're living in your office day in and out!" He exclaimed walking over to see what she was doing.

Elsa closed the book and looked up at him, and Jack noticed the exhaustion in her face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She grumbled, getting up and stretching before she walked towards the window. "All this work has drained me mentally. I'm going for a stroll. You better head back to your room."

"Wait!" Jack leapt front and grabbed her wrist to stop her. "Can I come with you?"

Elsa merely raised an eyebrow, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks when she eyed his hand on hers. Noticing this, Jack quickly let go but continued staring at her for an answer.

"Aren't you tired after working the whole day?" Elsa asked.

"Well, I need a break too you know." He shrugged.

Elsa considered it for a second before walking to the window. She raised her hands and frost flew out, forming a bridge of ice with railing on both sides. She gingerly touched the bridge and the frost turned into solid ice below her fingers. She slipped through the window and walked on the bridge, taking a few steps before partially turning to see him.

"Well, aren't you coming?"

And she smiled.

And that was all he needed as he smirked back and walked on the bridge, alongside her under the moonlight.

...

Rapunzel stirred in her sleep, opening her eyes when she felt Flynn sit up in their bed. "What's wrong?"

"My senses are telling me that Jack is flying away." He muttered, holding his forehead.

"What? Then go wake Elsa up and go after him!" Rapunzel sat up as well.

"The thing is..." Flynn looked at her, "she's with him."

"Huh?" Rapunzel blinked, unable to believe her ears.

"Yeah. They're heading out... together?" Flynn stated, confused at what he was saying. "You think he kidnapped her?"

"What the hell?" Rapunzel whacked him on his head. "Of course not! This is Elsa we're talking about. She'd kick his ass if he tried to."

"Yeah. But then, why will they both be going out at this time?" He asked her.

Rapunzel smirked and kissed him on his cheek. "Who knows? Now get back to bed. We don't want to disturb them."

"Huh?"

"Good night, Eugene."

"But-"

"Honey, they'll be alright. Sleep now."

"Okay..."


	13. Chapter 13

"Snowflake, come on! Speed up!" Jack called out, stopping and turning around to look at her.

"Jack, you know that I don't like to fly. When I told that we're taking a break, I didn't mean we'd be flying." She pointed out.

"But don't you think we'll reach more places and see a lot more if we're flying and not walking?" He asked.

"But I don't like flying." She mumbled.

"Really? I don't believe that." Jack stopped mid-air, raising his eyebrow.

"It's true." She shrugged, flicking her wrist once again as the ice bridge expanded before her. "I really don't like flying anymore. Or my powers. Or myself, to be honest."

"Well, no matter how smart you are, you're an idiot if you don't like yourself. And I didn't mean about shit like self-love or whatever -though that's important- I meant it like 'anyone who doesn't like _the_ Elsa Winters is an idiot' kinda thing." He grinned cheekily.

As he had hoped, Elsa looked at him and gave him a 'what the hell' look but Jack knew she wasn't offended by the smile she gave, which she seemed to be trying very hard to hide.

"But you didn't like me." She pointed out.

"And I had my fair reasons- reasons for which I still haven't forgiven you." He glared at her playfully, which just made her laugh.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Some random dude comes and causes chaos and I wasn't just going to go, 'Oh hey, you just broke our main source of income so here you go! We'll shower you with all our love and affection and go nuts over you because you're some celebrity and then we'll send you on your way!'"

"That would've been cool to watch." He smirked. "Besides, it's not like my charms worked on you anyway. You literally had a deadly sharp icicle between my eyes!"

"Yeah sure. Said celebrity dude starts flirting with me so lemme fall for him and give him my heart." She rolled her eyes.

"I wouldn't mind that." He added suggestively.

"In your dreams, sucker."

"Aww." He pouted, a light-bulb shining over his head after hearing her last word. " _But I'm a sucker for you._ "

"You did not just-"

Jack smirked before placing his hand on his heart. " _Say the word and I'll go anywhere blindly._ "

"Don't you dare...!"

" _I'm a sucker for you..._ " Jack continued singing, and Elsa tried not to laugh as she hid the fact that she was impressed by his singing. " _Any road you take, you know that you'll find me._ "

"Enough, Jack-!"

" _I'm a sucker for all of the subliminal things no one knows about you._ " Jack sang as he flew around her. " _About you, about you, about you."_

"Jack, I swear-" Elsa held herself back from giggling.

Jack smirked again, pretending to not notice her giggling. " _And you're making the typical me break my typical rules. It's you._ "

He looked directly at her as she smirked as well.

" _I'm a sucker for you._ " Both of them finished at the same time before they burst out laughing.

Elsa was the first to control her laughter before she rolled her eyes. "I'm still not gonna fly, Jack."

"Then I'll do the flying and you can just cling onto your Prince Charming."

And before she knew it, Jack reached behind her and swept her in his arms and started flying away.

Surprised by his sudden speed, Elsa threw her arms around his neck and yelled at him but Jack just laughed it off as he sped up.

"Seems like someone's been practicing," Elsa commented once she calmed down.

"Yup. Need to beat you if I want to claim the title of the fastest in the world." He smirked.

"Never in a million years, Frosty."

"We'll see about that, Snowflake."

And they continued bickering as Elsa gave him the directions and a few tips with his flying techniques. Jack listened to her, commenting something snarky now and then but following her instructions obediently. They took their own sweet time flying around mountains and looking around at the vast spread of trees and wildlife.

Jack wondered how far he had run from the road on that day, if Jamie made it out safely and if he would ever find his way back. And at that moment, guilt pierced through his heart when he remembered how he had just abandoned Jamie instead of putting up a fight. He bit his lip, hoping and praying that Jamie had escaped as well, that nothing...bad...happened to him.

"Jack...?" Elsa called out, noticing their speed decreasing as Jack frowned in concern.

"Huh?" He snapped out of his trance, looking down to stare at the wide blue eyes of the Snow Queen in his arms.

"Is anything the matter...?"

"O-oh, its nothing." Jack shook his head, shifting her in his arms as he picked up his speed. "So, are we there yet?"

His heart skipped a beat when she smiled and nodded, turning her head as she pointed to the tallest mountain of the area.

"The North Mountain."

...

 _"Elsaaaaa_..."

"I'm not doing it."

" _Please?"_

"Never."

 _"Snowflake..."_

"I literally told you not even _minutes_ ago that I don't wanna fly." She sighed, sitting on the peak of the snow-covered mountain and swinging her legs like she was sitting on a normal chair.

"Okay, how about this?" Jack asked, floating in front of her. "You can teach me how you did that impossibly fast turn- the one you did in our race. And in turn, I'll stop pestering you about flying."

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Well, I have a race in a few weeks and I wanna learn all your tricks so that I kick the other competitors' butts."

 _And probably even that Pitch guy and his company's._

"Jack, I'm not sure... I..."

"Elsa, you're just gonna teach me how to use my powers 'cause unlike you I never studied too deep into uses and tactics of my powers. So you're technically not racing or flying." He shrugged.

She seemed to consider it and after a few minutes she sighed and nodded.

"Sounds fair, I guess."

Jack mentally cheered, knowing that his victory was now certain.

"But..." She started.

 _But...?_ He repeated in his mind.

"Not today. I just want to relax and return home later." She admitted.

"Okay, I understand."

They stayed quiet after that. Elsa stared up at the moon, remembering all the fun times when Anna, Rapunzel, Merida and she would sneak out at night and play with her powers until they ended up falling asleep in the backyard, for which they usually got an earful from their parents on the next day.

Meanwhile, Jack sat down next to her and stared at her from his peripheral view. He jumped when Elsa caught him and smirked at him.

"Like what you see?" She asked teasingly.

"Yeah, your smile's really cute." He shot back.

"Oh, really?" She drawled, kinda taken aback that he actually admitted it.

"Yup. Shame I can't see you fly again, though. We can't do anything much other than talk if you're just gonna sit there and stare at the moon." He sighed.

"What _do_ you wanna do?"

"Well," he smirked like he was expecting her to ask that, "we could always have a romantic dance below the moonlight."

"Up here?" She raised an eyebrow, trying to push down her blush. "We'd be buried knee-deep in the snow before we even start the dance."

"In that case, we can just make a platform for ourselves and dance on it." Jack pointed out.

Elsa made a show of considering it before looking at him with a sly smirk, which Jack couldn't help but think looked _hot._

"Rejected." She grinned.

"Aw man." Jack pouted, falling backward and lying on the snow. "Okay then, we could just jump into the frozen pond below and kiss underwater."

Elsa burst out laughing, a new blush blooming on her face. "Where the hell did you get that idea from?"

Jack shrugged. "Percabeth."

"You ship Percabeth?"

"You _know_ Percabeth?"

Elsa smacked his head, which was easier since he was lying down. "Who doesn't? I've read all the books, _including_ Magnus Chase, The Kane Chronicles, _and_ Trials of Apollo."

"Wow. So, who's _your_ favourite ship?"

Elsa smirked. "Solangelo."

"Never saw that coming." Jack grinned before snuggling into the snow, his head resting on his palms and his eyes closed. "But anyway, I'm outta ideas on what we can do."

Elsa just stared at his relaxed face for a few minutes, seeing the moonlight literally shine on his silverish-white hair before remembering what she had initially planned. She stood up and dusted the snow off her clothes before starting to walk down towards the foot of the mountain. Hearing her move, Jack jumped into the air and floated next to her as she walked.

"Where're you goin' now?" He asked.

"A secret place which only I know of." Elsa grinned.

"Is that so?" Jack raised an eyebrow and quickly swept her up in his arms. "Lead the way, Milady."

"Not again." Elsa sighed and tried to get out of his grasp but it obviously didn't work.

She eventually gave up and started guiding them down the mountain and through a bunch of big and dense trees. Jack diligently followed her instructions and wove their way between the thick trunks and came to a stop in front of a few trees which were standing way too close.

"We'll have to walk from her," Elsa stated, hiking up her long skirt as she made her way through the trees.

Jack tried to keep up and almost lost her a few times, only then realising that she was very agile even without her powers. And he also noticed that the more they walked, the closer the trees were and the place grew darker. Even his staff didn't give him enough light to see around.

"Hey Snowflake, wait up! I can't see you!" Jack yelled, blindly walking between two trees and almost slipped by stepping on a root.

"You're a lost cause." She grumbled.

And just before he could bump into another tree, Elsa grabbed his hand and continued walking, dragging him behind her.

After a little more walking, Elsa finally pulled him into a small clearing and Jack collapsed on the snow, rubbing the various spots where he had been scratched. By the time he was done, Elsa had already started roaming around the tiny clearing.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Looking up, Jack's lungs stopped working as he gawked at the scenery before him. The small clearing amid the woods was surrounded by trees significantly smaller than the skyscraper-height trees they had just walked through. The clearing was very small, thirty people would fit in the maximum, and Jack doubted anyone could see it from up in the sky. But the clearing looked extra stunning due to the smaller trees with no leaves, thin branches covered in frost with frozen teardrops hanging from every branch.

And what made all of this _more_ gorgeous was the platinum-blonde standing right in the middle of the clearing, facing him with the softest smile he had seen in his entire life.

"I- _uh-_ um, I-I guess." He stammered.

Elsa walked towards him and Jack's heart thundered in his rib cage. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to stand before letting go as she turned around again.

"Follow me."

And she ambled forward, leading him to what seemed to be the biggest frozen tree, which was just twice his height. She kneeled down and scooted closer to the tree, urging Jack to do the same. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Jack gulped as did the same, sitting so close that their arms were pressed together. Trying not to let her fragrance distract him, Jack focused on what she was pointing at and saw text scribbled on the trunk. He recognized a few letters and made out the words _'Queen Elsa'_ and something else written down next to it. But the other words were barely noticeable or understandable because there were huge cuts and scratch marks over the words.

"What..."

Elsa turned around and sat down, leaning against the tree. "I carved those when I was young. I don't know whether I've told you this but before my obsession with my powers, I actually dreamt of becoming a queen. So when I got lost and found this place, I fell in love with it and decided that if I were to build my own home, I would build a castle up in the mountain and this would be my secret garden. Pretty stupid, right?"

"Nope," Jack responded, leaning against the tree as well, maintaining their proximity. "But a queen, huh? I guess it suits you."

"What? Because I'm evil or something?" Elsa raised an eyebrow.

"Nope." Jack smiled. "You just have this- uh-a royal _aura_ that just makes people want to treat you like royalty. You're graceful, elegant, formal, caring, reserved and very intelligent as well. I swear you beat every queen in the world when it comes to being so- _sophisticated_."

Elsa blushed, her gaze turning to the ground where she noticed frost spread around them in a barely noticeable pace. "That's a lot of adjectives. But thanks."

"No problem."

A calm and silent atmosphere settled upon them until Jack remembered something that he had wanted to ask.

"Hey Snowflake? Um, this is probably a very touchy subject but I was curious... After coming back and- you know, settling down, did you ever- like- have a new dream- a new ambition, or something?"

Elsa seemed to think about it for a few seconds before answering, "Not exactly, I guess. I've always wondered what I would be doing right now if I had fought against Pitch. If I had got justice and if I had still continued racing. Obviously, things wouldn't have been the same, but at least I wouldn't have grounded myself. If I had to pick a dream or an ambition, it would be to be able to fly again without any regrets and to provide my entire family with the most comfortable and happy life."

"Both of them sound like something _you_ would definitely desire, " Jack smiled.

Elsa smiled back before shrugging, "Not like both can come true anyways. I don't have the guts to fulfill the first one and I'm working hard even now to fulfill the second."

 _Even your first dream_ _is_ _possible, Snowflake,_ Jack thought, his eyes trained on her for a few seconds before he looked away.

They sat there a for few moments until Elsa noticed Jack trying to stifle a yawn. She then remembered he had been working all day and decided it was about time they returned home.

"Wanna head home?" She asked, standing up and dusting the snow off her clothes.

"Huh? So early?" Jack groaned.

"In case you haven't noticed, it's already about midnight and the others will freak out if they find both of us missing." Elsa reminded him. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Flynn already knows we're out so we better return home fast."

"But I wanna spend more time with you." Jack pouted, giving her the puppy dog eyes.

"And I'm sleepy so we're leaving." She deadpanned.

"Your wish is my command, Your Highness." Jack gave her a dramatic bow to which she rolled her eyes.

Jack stepped closer to her to pick her up and noted with surprise and delight when Elsa automatically wrapped her arms around his neck. He stared at her questioningly, his lips tilted upward in a sly smirk. But Elsa seemed confused by his expression so he just shook his head and took into the sky.

...

"Well," Jack placed her down in her room, "goodnight, my queen."

"I'm not your queen," Elsa grumbled with an adorable blush on her face. "But anyway, goodnight Jack."

And after shooting one last smile, she shut the windows and Jack flew down to the ground. He quickly collected all the materials that he had been using to plant the trees, placed them all near Flynn's backdoor and lifted his staff again to fly back to his room when he heard someone clearing their throat behind him.

He turned around and his heart jumped in fear and dislike.

"Mr Frost." Manny addressed him politely as he strolled over. "Such a surprise to see you out of your room so late in the night."

"I was just keeping the tools back near Flynn's door so that it would be easy for me to use them tomorrow," Jack informed, trying not to sound bitter.

After hearing Elsa's story and how Manny basically disowned her just because she lost a race, he was struggling to maintain any respect for the man before him.

Manny seemed to ignore his words as he glanced at Jack's staff in his hands. Jack saw a flash of disappointment in Manny's eyes as he sighed.

"Is Elsa seriously stupid enough to give you your staff back?" Manny asked.

Jack raised an eyebrow defiantly.

"I see my assumption is true." Manny guessed by his reaction.

"Elsa is not stupid." Jack ground out.

Manny seemed surprised by Jack's sudden anger. "Mr Frost, isn't Elsa the one who ordered and had you stay here until you fixed everything?"

"So?"

Manny just gave him an amused smile. "I just can't believe that you're defending the person who's holding you captive."

"Well, I guess we're kinda friends and I've learnt what kind of a person she is. And honestly, it kinda pisses me off every time you hate on Elsa." Jack crossed his arms.

"Lemme guess," Manny tilted his head like he was thinking, "she told you her great life story and how she amazingly messed up in her last race and that I'm the villain in the story?"

"Nope. Pitch was the villain." Jack deadpanned. "Besides, she even blamed herself because _you_ hated her! Like- no- she didn't hate you because you've been ill-treating her for _years_ now. Rather, she's blaming herself for _making you hate her._ How does that even work?!"

"Mr Frost, are you..." Manny gave him a look mixed with suspicion and disbelief, "are you in love with her?"

"That's beside the point."

"You didn't deny it."

"I don't love Elsa," Jack stated.

 _I might just like her -platonically- but Love's too strong a word._

 _Yeah, right._

Jack fought against the blush rising to his face, which was obviously noticed by Manny.

"By the way," Manny started, "I've heard that you've been visiting empty grounds to practice for your upcoming race."

"Yeah. Even the tiny bit of confidence I had in myself vanished after racing with Elsa." Jack sighed.

"Then you must be pretty pathetic if Elsa beat you so easily." Manny smiled.

Jack just blinked, offended by being called pathetic _and_ the insult directed towards Elsa.

"Look," Jack started, "I don't have a clue of what you have against Elsa. She's always done what you tell her to do, she works her ass off for this place, she even swallows her pride and doesn't stand up for herself when you insult her in every way possible. So why _do_ you hate her?!"

Manny's fake smile turned into a glare at once. "Some things are better left untold, Mr Frost."

"Not when you're hurting the feelings of the person whom you abandoned when they needed you the most." Jack hissed. "Besides, I can admit it. Compared to Elsa, I _am_ kinda pathetic. That's because she's worked harder than anyone else and has won the Tachyons cup literally _three_ times!"

"She failed big time during her fourth."

"Yeah, for something that wasn't her fault!"

Manny seemed surprised and amused at his last comment. "Wasn't her fault? Mr Frost, how can falling off her snowboard in the middle of her race be 'not her fault'?"

Jack just rolled his eyes before glaring accusingly at Manny. "Lemme just ask you this." He took a step closer to Manny as if challenging him. "Have you ever wondered how your star student, someone who literally won the Tachyons Cup _three times_ , could have done such a _simple_ mistake like falling off her snowboard? I mean, it's not like you _actually_ saw her slip off her snowboard, is it?"

Manny couldn't find an answer so he settled with glaring at Jack, who realised that his plan was working.

"How could Elsa, whom you practically _raised_ for at least _eight_ years, just fall off her snowboard especially when at such a great height? Its a miracle that she even survived such a great fall."

"She wasn't acting like herself before or during the match." Manny ground out.

"And why was that?" Jack raised an eyebrow cockily.

Manny seemed hesitant to answer but he hid his hesitation well. "Her parents had passed away a few weeks previously."

"And what did you do to help her out when she was grieving? She goes back home before finals only to receive the news that her parents had passed away. What should have happened was Elsa should have been allowed to stay home and attend the funeral and it should've been her choice whether she wanted to continue with her finals or not.

"But instead she was forcibly brought back to train and was made to race in the finals. And during all this, she had no one she could rely on. No one except you. And here's my genuine question, Mr Moon." Jack gave him a look of curiosity and accusation.

"What did you do the whole time? Did you help her out by letting her grieve by staying with her? Did you fight against the company for her sake? Or did you just kick back and thought it'd be fun to watch her suffer?"

The sound of Manny's fist clenching was heard clearly in the silence of the night but that didn't intimidate Jack. Rather, it gave him the satisfaction that his words were getting to Manny.

"Don't just assume and judge my actions, boy." Manny tried to keep his voice calm but his words came out in a very threatening manner. "I don't see the necessity to answer your questions."

Jack merely raised an eyebrow as he replied. "I'm sorry if I hit a nerve, Mr Moon. But if you're getting offended, then that must mean that I was right." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Manny's glare intensified but Jack merely smirked.

Jack turned his back to Manny and started walking away, but didn't stop talking. "It's not like you understand how it feels to be a racer anyway. And you don't understand how Elsa felt either. So..."

He stopped at the doors of the hotel before turning around to look at the man who was staring at the ground.

"...no wonder you hate her so much."

He shut the door.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey there everyone! To those who actually bothered to read this fanfiction, thank you so very much. And to those who've read the previous chapters before they were all edited on November 24th, 2019, don't worry, you haven't missed out on much. All you need to know is:**

 **-From the first, Jack has been obsessed about winning the Tachyons Cup for the money so that he could support Emma better, rather than wishing to be the most powerful man on earth.**

 **-His relationship with Emma is still strained**

 **-He doesn't particularly like flirting to others but makes an exception only for Elsa coz he likes it when she blushes. He was taught to flirt and be a bad boy in front of the cameras and other ladies by his trainers and fellow trainees.**

 **-He's a lot more tolerable now rather than being the conceited jerk that he was in the beginning of the story.**

 **-All that unnecessary shit about 'Emilie the Girlfriend' is also officially deleted.**

 **That's pretty much it for the edited version.**

 _..._

 _"Where the heck am I...?"_

 _Jack looked around but saw nothing. The darkness was so overwhelming that it made him run out of breath. He walked aimlessly and then blinked when a sudden howl was heard in the distance._

 _'What the hell...'_

 _He walked towards the howl, which was followed by a few more howls and growls. He started running towards the sound but then stopped when something else was heard._

 _A human scream._

 _So loud and painful that Jack wondered if they were being tortured. He picked up speed and flew towards the noises when all of a sudden, a spotlight shone on something a few yards in front of him and Jack stopped abruptly, his staff slipping from his hands as he stood frozen in shock and horror._

 _Under the light was Jamie, lying on his stomach with a bloody arm stretched out towards Jack. His other limbs were bitten and ripped out, his clothes were torn and there were bite marks and flesh ripped out in many parts of his body._

 _"Ja...mie...?" Jack whispered, willing his legs to move but his body didn't seem to listen to him and kept him stuck in his spot._

 _Jamie lifted his head up and Jack's eyes widened, even more, when he saw a half of his face eaten off._

 _"No..." Jack leaned backward in horror and landed on his butt._

 _"Run... away... Jack..." Jamie breathed out._

 _Suddenly, many pairs of bright glowing eyes appeared all around them and Jack stifled a gasp when he recognized them._

 _"Please, go, Jack!" Jamie whimpered, sounding hurried and panicked._

 _"No... I can't..." Jack whispered, fear coursing through him._

 _"Ja..." Jamie was cut short when something stepped out of the darkness and launched itself on him._

 _He screamed and writhed in pain as many more Nightmares pounced on him, ripping out the flesh from his body. Even his voice was muffled as one of the Nightmares stood between Jamie and Jack, eating away at the rest of his face._

 _"Jamie, NO!" Jack finally moved and took a step forward. He realized he wasn't moving at all and looked down at his own body._

 _Ropes of black sand were wrapped around his arms, legs and his waist. He tried moving but it was useless and his powers didn't seem to work as well._

 _Another heart-piercing scream echoed throughout the place and Jack whipped his head around, seeing a Nightmare having Jamie's hand in its mouth._

 _"NO!"_

 _Hearing his scream, the Nightmare turned its head and walked towards him, Jamie's hand still clasped between its teeth. It spat the hand out and sprinted towards Jack._

 _Suddenly, a shadow flashed before his eyes and that was the last thing Jack saw._

...

Taking deep and ragged breaths, Jack looked around and realized that he was still in his room in the rink and not in a weird dark place.

He looked down at himself, wearing only a pair of shorts, his body covered in sweat. He patted his arms and legs to check if he was really tied in ropes or if that was just in the dream. There were no ropes but Jack couldn't shake off the sensation of the ropes on his arms.

He didn't remember the dream completely but a few scenes played in his mind, enough for Jack to remember what his dream- or for a better word, his _nightmare_ \- was about.

 _Was that really just a dream...? Is Jamie really okay...?_

Jack bent forward and held his head, trying to get rid of the horrible images of Jamie attacked by the Nightmares. He remembered the last Nightmare which had come running towards him and his eyebrows furrowed in thought when he remembered the final shadow.

 _What was that...? The horses felt like a dream but the shadow felt real..._

Just then, Jack saw the silhouette of someone flying past his window.

He quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed his staff, approaching the window and throwing the curtains aside. He looked around and blinked in surprise when he saw Manny standing in the middle of the rink.

 _The heck is he doing down there at... 4 A.M. in the morning?!_

Jack quickly ran downstairs and successfully hid behind a bush from where he had a clear view of the man.

Manny was looking up at the sky, breathing fast as if he had been running. He was holding his cane in his hands, the lower end pointing at the air in front of him.

Jack continued watching in wonder as the lower end of the cane glowed and Manny drew something like a circle around the rink, an outline of the rink glowing in air, just a few centimeters above the ground. He stood on the circle and the minute his feet touched the light, the width of the circle widened until it looked like a race track.

Manny took a deep breath and started flying over the track. He started out slow but as he continued flying laps around the track, his speed picked up and when he finished his third lap, there was a sudden burst of energy which knocked Jack back. He quickly recovered and looked around but Manny was nowhere to be seen. He suddenly looked up and saw Manny shooting up towards the sky.

After reaching a certain height, he turned around and continued flying in the same direction by flying backward. And with another burst of energy, he flew towards the ground and landed smoothly.

Jack watched with a dropped jaw as Manny waved his cane around and the glowing track disappeared.

 _What the heck was that speed...? I almost couldn't follow him with my eyes..._

As if he sensed another person, Manny suddenly looked in his direction and Jack scrambled backward to hide from his view but ended up slipping and fell hard on his back.

"Whoever is hiding out there, come out this instant," Manny ordered.

Jack hesitated but decided it would be better to show himself rather than getting caught by Manny forcefully.

"Mr Frost." Manny didn't even sound surprised. "Why are you here? More importantly, why are you awake at this hour?"

"I could ask the same about you," Jack raised an eyebrow.

Manny just ignored him and turned away to return to his room.

"Wait!" Jack called out, lurching forward to stop him.

Manny paused and half-turned towards him.

"The speed you just flew in... It's not normal for someone to fly _that_ fast..." Jack stared intensely. "Even for a coach."

"What are you suggesting, _Jack_?" Manny glared at him.

"You're a racer as well, aren't you?"

Manny just continued glaring before he abruptly turned away and started walking back. "You really need to stop assuming things, Frost."

"I'm right, aren't I?" Jack insisted, following him.

"No."

"Then how can you-"

Manny turned around suddenly. "Why do you wanna know?"

Jack paused. "I... I just wanna know- because I've got my race coming up and none of the racers' speed is even _close_ to yours or Elsa's!"

"Just because I'm _fast_ doesn't mean I was a _racer._ " And saying so, Manny turned and started walking away.

"Wait, then just tell me how you pulled off that last move!" Jack walked behind him.

Manny stopped but didn't turn to look at him. "There are different ways to turn around without wasting any time. You just have to find the method you're most comfortable with."

And he left.

Jack just blinked in confusion.

"Wait a second, at least tell me one of the methods!"

...

"So you eavesdropped on him when he was racing?" Elsa blinked in shock.

"Yup." Jack dug up a little more mud and threw it aside before accepting the water bottle from her. He went and sat next to her on one of the benches around the rink. "And he said that I should find the method I'm most comfortable with, for turning around abruptly."

Elsa just leaned back in her seat. "He said the exact same thing for me too. And I found my own comfortable method."

"How?"

Elsa shrugged. "It depends on how you use your powers. I used to make huge curves to turn around but then I figured out that I can just freeze the air behind me after I turn around, and then continue flying. Manny usually turns around and bursts out the energy behind him so that he can keep up his speed."

Jack just groaned and leaned back on the bench, turning his head to her and poking her cheek. "Just tell me what I should do, Snowflake."

Elsa just swatted him away and got up. "You'll have to figure it out yourself, Frost." She gave one last smirk before walking away.

Jack just continued watching her with a small smile on his face.

"You sure you don't like my sister?"

Startled, Jack jolted and fell out of his seat. He quickly turned around and saw Anna and Rapunzel peeking their heads out from behind the trees which were directly behind the bench.

"Were you spying on us?!" Jack asked.

"Just answer the question, Frost." Anna sat on the bench and crossed her legs.

Jack groaned and looked at them in exasperation. "How many times do I have to tell you? I _don't_ like your sister romantically."

Rapunzel, who was standing next to Anna, crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow with a smirk on her face. "So you're telling me you never even _considered_ doing anything romantic with our sister?"

Jack couldn't help but blush, which was noticed by Anna and Rapunzel, but nonetheless, he shook his head in denial, his eyes looking down at the ground as his ears turned red.

Anna and Rapunzel shared a look, deciding to play along and _not_ ask him about his obvious reaction.

He expected them to fangirl or something but they just stood up, patted his shoulder and walked away.

 _What the heck just happened..._

Jack picked up the spade and continued digging, his body working on autopilot as he 'buried' himself in his thoughts.

 _Why does everyone think I'm in love with Elsa when I'm absolutely NOT?!_

He glanced up when he heard her name and saw her helping Mrs Dunbroch by stopping the triplets from pilling swords on top of each other. He didn't realize he was smiling as he saw her laugh until someone knocked hard on his head.

"Ow!" Jack turned around to scold the person and saw Merida looking at him with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms. "What was that for?!"

"Either do your work and dig the place or just sit down and stare at Elsa all you want."

Jack turned pink at the accusation. "What? I wasn't-"

Merida just pointed down and Jack looked down and realized that he had dug up too much mud. He grimaced and smacked himself on the head before picking up some mud and throwing it in.

Once Merida was satisfied, he lifted the small tree, placed it in the dug up space and started covering the roots with mud again.

"Finished already?" Asked Anna asked she walked towards them with Rapunzel, who was holding a plate of cookies.

"Could have finished it long back if Jack hadn't decided to dig too much as he stared at Elsa." Merida rolled her eyes.

"Oh really?" Rapunzel smirked.

Jack groaned, knowing where this conversation was headed to as his frustration from before resurfaced.

"Girls, leave the poor guy alone. He said she's just a friend, didn't he?" Anna drawled with a lazy and smug smirk on her face.

"Oh yeah..." Rapunzel followed her lead, "it's not like he likes Elsa, right?"

"Pretty sure he doesn't _love_ her, either." Anna circled around him like she was eyeing her prey.

"I don't love Elsa!" Jack hissed, his fists clenched in irritation and frustration. "Can you please stop talking about this?!"

"Of course, " Rapunzel nodded, "that's exactly what we were saying."

"Love's a very strong word." Anna pointed out. "I'd say you at least like her and that you're way past the point of having just a crush."

"I don't."

"You're lying." Rapunzel crossed her arms confidently.

"I'm not!"

"Are you _sure_?"

"I don't like her!"

"You're blushing." Anna poked his cheek.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about." Rapunzel shrugged. "We support your relationship."

"Exactly." Anna nodded.

Face red with anger and embarrassment, Jack gave an angry huff before he looked up at them and glared as intimidating as possible. "What do I have to do to get it through your thick, cement-coated skulls that I don't like her?!"

Anna shook her head. "Stop lying to yourself and just accept it!"

"I don't like Elsa!"

"But-"

"I said I don't like her and that's it! I can decide for myself who is worthy to be liked by me!"

Anna's eyes flashed with anger at the indirect insult -or at least what seemed like an insult to her- that Elsa wasn't _worthy_ of his stupid affection and she opened her mouth to voice her anger. But then she stopped, seeing something behind Jack. Her eyes widened and she bit her lip, not knowing how to react. Even Merida and Rapunzel had similar reactions.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and turned around to see what caused such reactions.

And at that moment, he cursed his own mouth for saying the things he just said.

His heart dropped to the very bottom of his ribcage and his breath was caught when he saw the betrayal and pain in Elsa's eyes.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And when she opened them again, they were cold and distant, all warmth and friendliness vanished into thin air. Jack recognized her expression and realized that this was how she had looked at him when he first crashed into their rink.

"Elsa-"

He stepped forward to explain himself but she gave him a smile- a cold, _fake_ smile which would have convinced them that she didn't mind what he had said- except for her eyes which were devoid of any emotion.

"Have a good day." And saying so, she turned and walked away from there.

 _Wait, Els-_

 _ **Don't.**_

And for the first time in weeks, Jack listened to the other voice in his head and stood his spot.

He turned around and saw varying degrees of guilt on the three girls' faces.

"Ja-"

"If you could please move, I would like to continue my work."

"Jack we're sor-"

Jack walked past them, grabbed the shovel and started digging through the mud for another tree.

Anna and Rapunzel shared glances and took a step towards him but they stopped when they felt a hand on their shoulders. Merida shook her head and led them away, telling them that he probably needs some time alone.

...

"So... Did anything happen, today?" Flynn asked, sitting down for dinner with the others. He glanced outside, where Jack was determinedly planting the trees.

"Why would you feel that way?" Rapunzel smiled nervously.

"Well, " Kristoff joined in, "he's been working non-stop and even finished dinner before we all could even bring our food."

"And Elsa hasn't even come down for dinner, " Flynn pointed out.

Ana and Rapunzel shared a glance, wondering if they should tell the truth.

"Nothing much, " Merida decided to answer for them, "Anna and Punzie here were trying to make him admit that he likes Elsa. The idiot screamed out loud that he doesn't, right when she was behind him. And since then, both have been absolutely quiet."

Flynn and Kristoff blinked in shock before turning to their respective wife/girlfriend. The women in question just ducked their heads and looked down at the ground in guilt.

"So..." Kristoff started, breaking the awkward atmosphere, "did you apologize?"

He guessed the answer to his question when Anna and Rapunzel sighed in vain before Anna decided to answer. "He didn't give us a chance to. Not like we were waiting for him to talk. It's just that he's been avoiding every single person as much as he can."

They remained silent as they finished their meal and headed outside. Flynn tried to talk to Jack but all he got were one-word responses. The girls tried to get Elsa to come out for dinner but there was no reply from the other side of the door. Deciding to solve the problems in the morning, they head to their houses and got ready for bed.

...

Flynn sighed, twisting and turning in bed, not able to sleep while trying to keep his senses alert on Jack. He got up and walked outside, where Jack seemed to be digging the ground for the last tree.

"Not gonna sleep?" he called out, making Jack stop and turn around.

"Could ask the same to you, " Jack retorted.

"Can't sleep while making sure you don't escape." Flynn shrugged.

Jack turned around completely, facing Flynn properly for the first time that day. "How about you switch off your powers for tonight. I promise I won't try to escape till my work is done."

"Tempting. But how can I believe that you won't be escaping?" Flynn cocked up and eyebrow.

"I haven't tried to escape for at least a month now, you know?" Jack pointed out.

"Which makes it all the more suspicious." Flynn crossed his arms.

"Come on bro, did I ever lie to you these past few days?"

"Yes. Yes, you did."

"Okay, that was a stupid question. Point is, you can trust me. Racer's honour I won't escape!" Jack crossed his heart.

"I don't know how much I can trust this racer's honour that you speak of."

"Elsa was a race, wasn't she? Merida was a racer, wasn't she?"

Flynn seemed to consider his words. "You sure you won't escape?"

"Of course!"

"You're _really_ sure?"

"Yup."

"Honestly and completely sure?"

Jack huffed and stomped over to Flynn before turning him around and pushing him towards his house. "Yes! Now go cuddle with your wife for all I care!"

Flynn still seemed unsure as he walked inside his house and turned to close the door. "Okay then, I'm trusting you dude."

And he closed the door.

...

"Oh my God!"

Flynn jolted awake, looking around wildly while reaching for his hidden frying pan. Seeing no danger around, Flynn grabbed his trustee pan and walked out of the house, searching for his wife.

What he didn't expect to see, however, was a neat and bright ice rink, covered by a thin layer of snow. He blinked in shock and looked around, seeing snow on every house and on the trees surrounding the rinks.

Rapunzel was standing by the corner of the rink, staring in shock and awe at the rink which was looking as new as ever. Her scream of surprise had woken up almost everyone living around the rink, including Flynn.

"The rink is fixed!" She exclaimed, running around the rink towards Anna who just emerged from her house, followed by Kristoff, both having varying degrees of bedhead.

Anna straightened, all traces of sleep fading away from her face as she whispered, "It is..."

Upon seeing the rink, Kristoff's eyes shot wide. He stumbled forward and held the railings which were around the rink, starting at the clear ice reflecting the colour of the sky above.

"It's beautiful..." Kristoff whimpered.

"Why are y'all being so emotional over a rink where we've been living literally from when we were born?" asked Merida, trudging over to them grumpily.

"It's been at least a month since we saw the rink in all its glory so just let them be."

They all turned around and saw Elsa walking towards them, already dressed in formal clothes consisting of a pencil skirt, a blouse and some pencil heels. Her hair was pulled into her signature bun and she held a duffle bag.

"Going out somewhere?" asked Anna, walking towards her sister.

"The President has called us up for a meeting to submit all our reports tomorrow. I just thought I'll check up all the rinks today and finish with the meeting tomorrow." Elsa smiled, and Anna noted that it didn't seem as bright as two days ago.

"How long will you be gone for?" Rapunzel stood next to Elsa, concern evident on her face.

"Two and a half days, probably. I'll be back by evening on the day after tomorrow." Elsa informed.

Anna nodded, hugging her sister as she patted her back. "Take care"

Elsa hugged her back and nodded before proceeding to bid everyone goodbye. She left with Kristoff who volunteered to drop her at the edge of the forest, which was about a two-hour drive away.

And just as she got on his motorbike, Rapunzel realised something. "Wait, aren't you gonna say bye to Jack before you leave?"

Elsa just gave her a smile, which looked faker than the one she showed before, as she looked over at Rapunzel. "Ask your husband where he is."

And they drove off.

Rapunzel and Anna glanced at each other in confusion before looking at Flynn. "What did she mean?"

Flynn focussed on his powers, staying silent for a few seconds before looking up at both of them.

"He's gone."


End file.
